In a previous post, I wrote my reaction to a blog entry in The Washington Post that, essentially, supports same-sex marriage because “All couples, including same-sex couples deserve the joy, happiness and ‘completeness’ that comes with a civil marriage.”
I said it was the wrong way to argue because civil marriage grants legal rights and statuses, and these are the very things denied to same-sex couples, not the right to love and happiness which is within everyone’s reach with or without marriage.
Here’s another proof to affirm my previous statement. From The Wall Street Journal Law blog:
Edie Windsor filed a lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act in 2010, after the death of her spouse, Thea Spyer. (The two were married in Canada in 2007.)
Ms. Spyer left her all her property to Ms. Windsor. Typically, an estate passes between spouses without a federal estate tax, but because DOMA only recognizes marriages as between a man and a woman, Ms. Windsor was assessed more than $363,000.
Fortunately for Ms. Windsor, the case landed in the sala of a judge who understands the law and who ruled in her favor.
In short, whether or not same-sex marriage is declared legal is an issue that affects property relations between same-sex couples as well as their right to inherit from one another.