Often forgotten in the debate over marriage rights are the rights of the children of same-sex couples–and the protections that come from having their parents married under the law. Susan Salomone of Syracuse speaks out about what marriage means to her family and children.
“It’s really a protection for our family,” Susan Salomone said about the prospect of gay marriage in New York. “Jean and I have wills and other protections. But it’s so important for us to be able to protect the kids. … We’ve been together so long. We’ve established our relationship amongst our friends, our family, our church. It would be nice to have it legalized, so we’re completely protected.”
California’s domestic partnership law already confers most of the same legal rights on gay couples as heterosexual married people, said professor Lawrence Levine of the McGeorge School of Law. Still, he said, marriage opens doors that domestic partnership does not.
“There is a shared understanding of what the word ‘marriage’ means in our culture,” said Levine. “There is a huge psychic difference between that word and the phrase ‘domestic partnership.’ ”
Even though the latter has legal heft in California, many people are unfamiliar with it, and as a result domestic partners may be denied their rights, Levine said.
Domestic partnerships aren’t even an alternative in New York. If a couple wishes to marry, they must travel to Canada, Connecticut, Massachusets, Vermont, Iowa or Maine.
Gays and lesbians are a vital part of our communities. They are doctors, teachers, firefighters, emergency personnel and neighbors. In this way, marriage equality is also about supporting good citizens and strengthening our communities. When a committed gay couple seeks to declare their love for one another and get married, the whole community benefits from the added stability and strength of that family. On top of that, we don’t give up anything by sharing responsibilities and protections with those whom we love.
That’s why I support marriage equality. It is the best and fairest way to grant gay and lesbian neighbors and family members the protections and responsibilities that they need to provide for their family and give back to their community.
As Republicans, we understand the importance of strong communities. Last week, the New York Assembly passed the marriage bill with the support of five Republican Assembly members. Now, the bill goes before the state Senate, where Republican senators will make the difference on whether the bill becomes law or dies. Once again, New York has the opportunity to make a statement about Republican values and fairness by passing the marriage bill.
All 69 same-sex couples married in Greenwich, CT, in 2009 were from out of state and neighboring Stanford has had 71 gay and lesbian weddings for non-residents since marriage equality became the law last November.
These weddings represent money and tax dollars that could come to New York, if only marriage were available to all New York couples.
Barb and Don Crawford of Cicero, NY, have two daughters, one who is married and one who isn’t. The impacts of this inequality reach beyond the couple’s daughters and impact their granddaughter who must live with the reality that her parents are not equal under the law.
