I pay my taxes and like Vice-President elect Joe Biden I feel it is my patriotic duty to pay them and support the institutions that make our country what it is. For that I expect the local, state and federal government to protect my civil rights - well at least now that the Bush administration is on its way out. Gay, lesbian and transgender persons and couples pay their taxes too, thus they should be granted the same rights and services as I expect to get. If you deny anyone paying taxes into a system ANY rights granted under that system; we must call it what it is – Taxation without Representation.
As one of the fundamental reasons for the American Revolution, Taxation Without Representation is burned into the memory of every American from the first grade. However representation is much more than just living in a congressional district, it includes a whole range of services that our government both federal and local provides using our tax dollars. Fundamentally anyone who pays taxes into this system must receive the services being supported. One of those services, as far as legal requirements, is a marriage license, which is issued not by a church but the local Government. A marriage license is a legal document!
Now some people like to believe that Marriage is a religious institution and in most cases the ceremony at least is; but we have a separation of church and state, so religious ideology (wrong ideology in my opinion) cannot be a factor when you are dealing with the legal rights of a citizen of the United States of America. Now we can argue the "religious" points of gay marriage all day long; and get nowhere. People whom are much more "righteous" then I will never give up using the bible as a club to bludgeon people who don't agree with them into submission. But remember the arguments they use come from the same section(s) of the bible that slave owners used to support their right to own those slaves.
These sections also contains guideline as to who should be stoned to death. You know like when a girls father cannot prove her virginity, or children who disrespect their parents, and people who take the Lords name in vain. Seems to me we have a lot of stoning to do, but I digress.
Even people that have lost their basic rights like convicted felons are still able to get married. So a person is in prison for killing another human and you still grant them the right to get married. I cannot stress enough that if two people love each other, and they want to spend the rest of their lives together - then no restriction should be imposed on that - ever! But there are more then the basics of human rights at work here. What does being legally married mean? What do I get that a gay couple does not? Well how about these for starters:
My wife cannot be compelled to testify against me in a court of law.
Status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent.
Joint insurance policies for home, auto and health.
Inheritance automatically in the absence of a will.
Benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare.
Wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children.
Decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her.
I got help with this list here, a sight for religious tolerance. What a wonderful concept.
On top of this is the tax revenue that will be
gained by allowing gay marriage has been proven to be significant.
I am not alone in this idea that paying taxes automatically conveys certain rights to citizens of the U.S. And denying those rights will result in ever growing protest.
There are many reasons to allow gay couples to marry; this is just one of them. But the bottom line reason is it’s the right thing to do. When I told a friend to mine I was getting married he said good, I want you to be as happy being married as I am.