pogoism

I’ve refrained from doing political posts on my blog, but today marks the first day of Inauguration Week, and also the first online march for LGBT equality in the US. 

If you’d asked me a few weeks ago what I thought of gay “marriage”, I’d have told you that I don’t agree with it. In the UK, we have civil partnerships, which give same-sex couples exactly the same benefits as straight couples, but in the US, that’s not true. Because the law is written with the word “marriage”, if civil unions are approved here (and the evidence shows that they overwhelmingly would be), then same-sex couples will still not necessarily enjoy all the same benefits of being “married”. Given the passage of Prop 8 in California in November, and all the fall-out from that, an online campaign has launched to educate Americans about what is being denied to committed LGBT Americans. They trawled through Federal law, and identified 1138 laws in which marital status is a factor. 

1138.

That’s a pretty big number. And they range from joint taxes, to hospital visitation, to immigration, to domestic violence, and the main one for me – medical decisions.

Imagine someone you’ve had a domestic relationship with for 20 years has an accident, and because you’re not married, you’re unable to make medical decisions for that person, despite probably being the most qualified person to make those decisions for that person.

Imagine not being able to even visit your partner in hospital.

Imagine being fired from your job, just because you’re gay.

These things happen, it’s not just us whiney gays going on again about equality – they affect peoples lives in a very real way.

I know it seems weird that someone from the UK should care so much, but my plan is to ultimately move here, so I may as well get behind it now so that when I do live here, that chance is open to me. And besides, if arguably the most influential country in the world can’t give LGBT couples equal rights, what chance have other countries got?

So, if you support gay marriage in the US, I’d strongly urge you to go to the EqualityMatters.org website, and donate your profile picture to this cause.

“We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” – Thomas Jefferson