I believe it's a matter of Civil Rights and that the State has legislated bigotry by not allowing me to marry my wife.
The two most important examples of the difference between "traditional" marriage and the Civil Union Donna and I have are Hunter and Skye. We each had to adopt our own children. Had one of us been a man, our names would have been listed on our children's birth certificates. The mechanics of how we had our children would not have been at issue. Like male/female couples with fertility issues, we had to try harder to conceive our children. It should be left at that. Instead, we had to do a second parent adoption to have equal parental rights. Apart from the moral implications, that extra step to ensure our parental rights puts us at a financial disadvantage as well. The only time those legal expenses are incurred by straight couples is if one of them is adopting a step child.
Like many complicated issues, I think it's imperative to breathe life into "social issues" by sharing personal stories. The only way to humanize the conversation is to stand up as examples of those who are not recognized as important enough to enjoy the same rights and privileges as heterosexual couples. My marriage (and Donna and I consider our union as sacred as our heterosexual peers' marriages) is as precious to me as heterosexual couples' marriages are to them.
Now, I want to thank our school district for having the courage to build this issue into it's curriculum so that young people can thoughtfully consider the issues and hopefully learn that at the end of the day, all gay couples want are the same rights and privileges of marriage that so many others enjoy. I want to be able to introduce my wife without people doing a double-take, despite how subtle it may be. I want to be able to have the peace of mind to travel to another state in our Union and not worry about what happens if one of us had a medical emergency and our marriage was not recognized (a reason we have legal health care directives in place---another expense straight couples don't incur). I want to be able to have the peace of mind that if I were to pre-decease my wife, she would be entitled to my Social Security benefits. Now, I don't have that peace of mind.
Hopefully, our young people will give me that peace of mind someday soon.
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