I'm listening to a show on my college station. This lady who had a gay relationship for 45 years with her partner was denied Social Security benefits after she died. This has got to stop!

social security goes to spouse or children,,,perhaps in the future they will make civil unions more common and civil partners will be included, but I suspect a couple who lived together(regardless of gender)without marrying would face the same issue if one died.

what proof existed of their relationship (besides her word)?

i had a gay friend once and he'd listed his brother as his live-in lover, as well as his nephews as their dependents, so that he could have private health insurance coverage for them.

if he died, his brother would have received about a hundred grand insurance policy. based on his word; there obviously wasn't an actual physical loving relationship.

Oh...I'm sure but if certain states don't recognize same sex marriage then where does that leave a lot of people? Straight couples have the option to get married whenever they want.

Well...if gay marriage isn't allowed then there can't be any proof, see?

straight to the point

Exactly...and that really is all their asking for, the same rights.
A big problem with a society that will deny these people.
Disturbing actually..

so petition to make the burden of proof more than just a piece of paper saying they are married.

i see thread upon thread upong thread on this site of people denouncing the need for a marriage certificate, saying they'd never get married again, etc., however, it seems the gays and lesbians sure want to.

no one on this web site is going to do anything to legalise gay marriage, no matter how many threads there are.

good idea,,,

Im also for a civil union for the specific purpose of aknowledging a legal union of assets and privileges

I agree.

Actually, some friends who have been living together for 30 years, but not married, didn't have any issues setting up the SSI info. They're heterosexual, though.

I asked this a while ago....and I'll ask again.

Has anyone noticed that OUR society is the only one in the history of the world to try normalizing homosexuality??

For thousands upon thousands of years, homosexuality was considered something abnormal. By many, it still is.

Is normalizing that behavior supposed to make us more ' enlightened '??

Now...before anyone starts ranting about me being a raging homophobe I would like to point out that my half brother is gay. I love him to death, and I don't consider him to be some kind of freak.

I am simply making an observation and asking a question.

You might look into the Sacred Band of 300 of Thebes.

There are plenty of cultures that allowed for homosexual couples. It's only been since the Church got rolling that the "abnormality" of homosexuality got slammed.

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/pwh/sacredband.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes

Yes I have noticed and I think Americans in general are getting tired of the gays telling us we have to accept it like it or not.I am also tired of Christians getting blamed for every problem the gays run into despite what the voters say.The gay movement has really given itself a bad public relations image in the last few years by calling anyone who disagrees with them racist homophobes.I think the main reason they didn't get enough signatures was because people are sick and tired of them whining,complaining,and lawsuits every time they lose court cases.If the gay movement would have put this bill on the ballot and lost then we all have to listen to months of them calling us racist,bigots and suing the county.We are sick of it.This gay marriage issue has been stuck down well over 30 times when taken to the voters and the only reason it is legal in some states is because it was bypassed by the voters or vetoed.Clubbing people over the head,chaining them to the wall,spoon feeding them gabba goo,and telling them they have to accept your lifestyle is brain dead stupid but that is the image I get when people tell me I have to accept it.It maybe be tolerated but is not accepted as normal anywhere in the world.You can blame religion but all you have to do is look to China where nearly everyone is a Atheist and homosexuality will probably get you thrown in jail or killed.

thats interesting,, I dont see anything on the SSI sight that allows unmarried partners to receive benefits after death. SSI recipients can set up to have their payments(while alive) direct deposited though, in which case a joint account would be all that was necessary and not marriage..

When individuals hold this view they are promoting a State Sponsored Religion. Please let me explain. The problem some folks seem to have with the "union" of homosexuals is in the word marriage.

Many would be happy to see EVERY legal responsibility and benefit of the laws currently bound in the word marriage to also apply to the concept called 'civil union'. Why? Because the word marriage for many people is also tied to their religion.

Asking the Government to consider the word in it's religious context ONLY is asking the government and ALL THE PEOPLE to allow the government to set legal code in conjucjion with specific religious values.

First of all - this is contrary to what ALL RELIGIOUS PEOPLE want and to what the Constitiution itself prohibits - state governance over religious values.

Secondly - this motion,to add a new concept and keep the word 'marriage' untainted for religious purposes, is an acceptance of the kind segregationist movements that have been so hard won in the last 150 years.

By adding a 'civil union' those who accept this notion are hurting themselves because they are setting the standards of the country and the poeple in it to accept bigotry, segregation, and discrimination as our right.

Now with that kind of mindset - by all means let us all have the right to carry semi-automatic weapons. (just saying!) THINK!

Actually, I think there are about 20 to 25 states that still recognize "common-law" marriage. Some are limited to a "grandfather clause" in other words if you passed the marker year before (xxxx year) you are considered married. Those people that have been together for over 30 years often fall into that catagory (heterosexual) of course.

Also, as far as private life insurance goes - as long as a person can provide proof that there is a agreed upon dependancy on the income or wealth of an individual - life insurance is an option.

Many companies have included the right of live-in partners to attain health insurance for their partners and mutually cared for children. This is a FABULOUS benefit because it is without bias. Not only are homosexual couples benefited, but also family members - brother, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents - who find themselves responsible for raising children of incapacited or deceased family members.

Laws that benefit everyone - should never be fought against just becasue they also benefit a group whose lifestyly does not fit into your ideology.

After some research I have some information on gay marriage in other countries...

Canada, South africa, Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and several other european countries have same sex civil unions and are working on marriage rights.

So we are not the only country trying to "normalize" homosexuality as you put it...

Before you quote me,and before you do any " research " in trying to refute me, try taking a look at what I actually SAID.

I did not say we are the only " country ".

What I said was ( in case you have a slight comprehension issue ) is that we are the only society. A society is NOT relegated to any specific country. Society, as I used it, means humanity in general in a particular time frame.

Now, having seen Equus' post, perhaps it would have been better phrased to say the only modern society.

Sorry, I misread your post. Homosexuality has existed long before the modern society, we are the society trying to normalize it because people didn't worry about it before modern religion. The ancient greek had common everyday homosexual activity. Emperors would marry a man and not care what anyone thought. It's not a new issue, we just view it differently thanks to christianity and other modern religions.