Why Marriage Is Important:
"A woman who has worked with the same agency for eight years contacted the Human Resources Department to have her partner added to her health insurance when her partner was laid off.  The agency refused this request, resulting in the employee and her partner having to pay medical costs, including expensive prescriptions out-of-pocket.  The couple’s home is now in foreclosure since they had to decide between life-saving medications and housing."

In the United States, marriage is usually understood in two contexts: formal recognition of marriage validated by a registered State license, and the ceremonial union, frequently religious, wherein a couple publicly or privately expresses their commitment to each other.

Although commitment ceremonies for same-sex couples are commonplace, marriage equality for same-sex couples are denied legal recognition any state except Massachusetts. In 1996, the State of Michigan passed two bans on marriage equality for same-sex couples. The first banned marriages performed for same-sex couples in Michigan, and the other banned the recognition of such marriages, if they are performed in other states. The federal government also passed DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). Many Constitutional scholars believe both the federal DOMA and their state counterparts violate the "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution, which mandates that states respect each other's public records and legal contracts, such as drivers’ licenses, court orders, and marriage licenses.

Immigration law also does not recognize marriages between gay and lesbian couples performed in other countries. This has yet to be tested in Michigan. Marriage confers many privileges and benefits, as well as providing the vehicle for recognizing an intimate relationship for various legal and social purposes. Although many same-sex couples share the same responsibilities as married couples, nowhere in this country do they have the same protections and benefits afforded to married couples. For example, because many hospitals allow only immediate family to visit patients, same-sex couples are often denied visitation because they are not legally defined as family.

The General Accounting Office of the federal government has documented 1138, benefits and privileges deriving from marriage, all of which are currently denied same-sex couples. LGBT families in no state enjoy equal protection under federal law. Thirty-six states have banned gay marriage.

Domestic Partner (DP) Benefit

• DP benefits arose from the need to secure protections and benefits for familial relationships not currently recognized under the law, including same-sex unions not recognized as legal marriage.

• Ten states and hundreds of local governments currently offer DP benefits to employees of those cities, and/or provide an official registry. In addition, more than 700 major corporations offer DP benefits to their employees.

• Offering DP benefits is often seen by corporations as a way of staying competitive by attracting and retaining their talented gay and lesbian employees.

• Unfortunately, unlike benefits provided on the basis of heterosexual marriage, same-sex domestic partners must pay taxes on DP benefits as income.

• DP benefits are about equal pay for equal work. Up to 40% of a persons income comes from benefits and not from salary. Many legal scholars argue that not providing DP benefits violates the constitutional guarantee of “equal protection” under the law.

• Statistically speaking, a majority of Americans support extending health care benefits to the partners of gay and lesbian employees. Most Americans see the issue as one of fairness because they understand that GLBT people pay their taxes like everyone else.

Case Study: Civil Unions in Vermont

The Vermont State Supreme Court struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriages and instructed the legislature that they needed to develop a system that would extend to same-sex couples many of the benefits and privileges that opposite-sex couples already enjoyed. The result was “Civil Unions.”

Civil Unions are similar to marriages but not quite. The “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution declares that all states must recognize each other’s contracts. That is why a driver’s license or a marriage license in one state is valid anywhere in the United States. “Civil unions” are not marriages so they are not recognized outside of Vermont. It is the first state in the country to offer benefits to same-sex couples.