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.
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