The Issues:
Marriage Equality

ACTION ALERT: Please click here to tell your elected officials to support the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act. The text of the Act can be read here.


Click here to learn about Maryland's Marriage Equality Lawsuit and ways to oppose discrimination in the constitution.

“Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society.  For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations... Barred access to the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage, a person who enters into an intimate, exclusive union with another of the same sex is arbitrarily deprived of membership in one of our community’s most rewarding and cherished institutions. That exclusion is incompatible with the constitutional principles of respect for individual autonomy and equality under law.”
-Margaret Marshall, Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Chief, speaking for the majority in Goodridge et al. v. Department of Public Health

The Struggle for Marriage Equality

Civil marriage is, in essence, a state-recognized contract between two people.  

This legal contract has no bearing on the decisions of religious denominations to bless, or not bless, the relationships of same-sex couples.   Nevertheless, many Americans, fueled by mixed messages from our opponents, remain preoccupied with the personal notion of marriage as a "sacrament."   Unfortunately, this myopic thinking fails to consider the ingredients that add up to the recipe of marriage and detracts from the argument at hand: civil marriage for same-sex couples is a matter of equal protection and equal rights under the law.

For instance, heterosexual couples may take for granted the right to visit a spouse in the hospital; make medical decisions for a spouse; take leave Family and Medical Leave to care for a sick spouse; file joint tax returns; or inherit property, disability and social security in the event of a spouse's death.   There are hundreds of state-level and more than a thousand federal rights and responsibilities that accompany a civil marriage license in the United States, according to the General Accounting Office (GAO).   The struggle for marriage equality is a quest for this license, which unlocks the door to these benefits.   It is the desire to achieve the stability, equity and peace of mind that so many families take for granted. No domestic partnership legislation, civil union, advance medical directive, or private agreement can duplicate the legal status of marriage.   Neither domestic partnership laws nor Vermont's Civil Unions law are recognized by the federal government.   In fact, the rights and benefits of domestic partner and Civil Unions laws end at the state line. (Click here to read an editorial exchange on civil unions vs. marriage equality.)

Some of the more than one thousand rights, benefits and responsibilities that accompany a civil marriage license include:

  • The right to visit a spouse in the hospital
  • The right to make medical decisions for a sick spouse
  • The right to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse
  • Access to family courts for dissolution of relationships
  • Death benefits for surviving spouses of firefighters and police officers
  • Mutual responsibility for debts
  • Joint assessment of income for determining eligibility for state government assistance programs
  • Ability to sponsor a spouse from another country for a green card
  • Community property ownership protections
  • Child custody, visitation, and duties of financial support to children
  • Eligibility for health benefits (without taxation) and COBRA benefits through an employer
  • Ability to take leave to care for a sick spouse under the Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Right to inherit a spouse's pension
  • Entitlement to inherit social security and disability benefits upon the death of a spouse
  • Ability to inherit jointly owned property without incurring tax penalties
  • Right to file joint income taxes
  • Ability to put a spouse on the deed to a home without incurring tax penalties
  • Access to "family memberships"
  • Domestic violence protections
  • Immunity from testifying against a spouse
  • Right to sue for wrongful death of a spouse

LGBT civil rights leaders have been fighting for relationship recognition in courts and legislatures across the country for many years.  Please follow the links in the Marriage Equality section of this website to learn more about the gains, and setbacks, in the struggle for equality for families headed by same-sex couples.

Heart of the Matter:
Maryland's Same-Sex Couples Seek Justice for their Families


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