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Old 04-20-2009, 09:07 AM   #9
starseed
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Join Date: Feb 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by peter12 View Post
I'm not sure marriage is anything close to a civil right...
The point is, that certain rights given to married spouses are not offered to other couples. In the United States, being married effects Social Security benefits, veterans' benefits, health insurance, Medicaid, hospital visitation rights, estate taxes, retirement savings, pensions, family leave, and immigration laws.

Marriage has become a term used to describe committed couples under law, and under law married couples are granted rights not given to other couples. If two people of the same sex fall in love here in Canada, and one is not a Canadian citizen, they can become a citizen when they get married. That is just one example of how this is a matter of civil rights. Its about full equality before the law... and not segregation, Vermont's state congress just ruled that merely providing civil unions and not full marriage was just that.
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