When reading the articles for today's post, one line really stood out to me as a good summary for the context of this discussion on gay marriage, "yet, the concept of equality in our legal system does not support differences, it only supports sameness" (Ettelbrick, 307). This is unfortunate, but true in most cases involving same-sex marriage. Ettelbrick is arguing here that America's government only protects the people that fall into the category of "normal" and anyone that strays is left to their own devices.
I thought I knew a lot of the logistics regarding same-sex marriages, but after reading Same Sex Marriage FAQs I was strongly taken aback at some of the limitations same sex partners have to deal with. For example, we talked about in class how heterosexual couples get many tax breaks when they formalize their commitment through marriage and other monetary advantages such as health insurance and Social Security benefits, but I was surprised to read that senior citizen partners do not have the legal right to live together in a nursing home because they are not considered legal spouses. That is absurd! Because these couples are not legally aloud to marry, they, under US law, are not aloud to spend their last days together under the same roof?!
I guess I never really realized how privileged I was to grow up as a white straight citizen of the US. I never thought about how the involuntary characteristics that define me to the world could be applied by laws to benefit me and to effectively ruin others.
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