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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (28760)	2/10/2004 9:23:40 AM
From: redfish	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794541

To many people, marriage is inextrably linked to their religion. It is not just a civil ceremony, it is holy matrimony.

To: Lane3 who wrote (28760)	2/10/2004 10:55:30 AM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794541

Marriage certificates are not worthless sheets of paper. If you marry, in the absence of a prenup, you have an ownership interest in everything acquired during marriage by the effort of your spouse, be it cash, real property, retirement accounts, or other moveable property. In the event of divorce, you have a potential right to alimony and equitable distribution of property or a lump sum equivalent, and if you've been married long enough, Social Security. In the event of death you potentially can get even more. And then there's health insurance coverage. These rights are so important that they even affect federal law. I mentioned Social Security. There's also ERISA, which applies to retirement benefits, and COBRA, which applies to health insurance benefits, and others. For example, COBRA mandates that in the event of divorce, your spouse's health insurance company must provide you coverage for up to two years, although you'll have to pay the individual rate, not the group rate. ERISA mandates that you have a right to a share of your ex-spouse's retirement benefits, which you must waive in writing if you decide you don't want them. How would gay marriage affect this? Well, the biggest change would be that gay men with HIV/AIDS would automatically be entitled to health insurance as spouses of someone with a pre-existing insurance policy. That would be a nightmare for insurance companies and corporate human resources departments. Small companies probably couldn't afford health insurance until it was all sorted out. No, I don't think the "worthless piece of paper" argument holds up.