The following is a guest article from one of my former coworkers. Michael has been with his partner Jim for several years.
By: Michael
A lot of my friends are asking the significance of the recent Supreme Court ruling of Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8.
Let me tell you what it means to Jim and I personally.
DOMA was deemed unconstitutional. This means Jim and I now get more than 1000 rights that are enjoyed by other straight married couples, but that we didn’t have.
This means that gay military families now get their military benefits. Federal employees get spousal benefits. For Jim and I, it means Jim will now have inheritance rights. Jim or I would have been taxed on inheriting the house, the cars, etc. Those are taxes that a straight married couple doesn’t worry about.
Jim would also get my Social Security benefits should something happen to me. Because Jim quit his job while I continued to work, my Social Security benefits will be significantly greater than his because Jim has been doing the important work of raising Malachi.
DOMA’s demise also means Jim and I can file our federal income taxes jointly, saving us thousands of dollars routinely saved by straight married couples.
One of the symbols appearing on Facebook and representing support for same sex marriage
Prop 8, on the other hand, was not declared unconstitutional. But the court said the opponents of the California state supreme court ruling had no standing to bring it to the Federal supreme court. This meant that the last ruling of the CA supreme court will stand. The CA supreme court said Prop 8 was unconstitutional.
If the Federal Supreme Court ruled Prop 8 as unconstitutional, all U.S. states would have to allow gay marriage. The Supreme Court was never prepared to rule that way, letting the CA supreme court make the decision.
Now what does that mean to Jim and I? Not much really. We were married before marriages were stopped in CA. But now marriage will resume in CA and, for many now, it means that things like hospitalization visitation and spousal rights to make medical decisions for the other spouse will be enjoyed by all married couples. In addition we now can file state income tax jointly.
So that’s what all this means to Jim and I.
For most of you, you will not notice anything.
For Jim and I, it means the world.
