Some people want to convince you that Colorado needs a "domestic partnership" law for gay couples.
Homosexuals say they need this because they're being discriminated against — that they are being denied a host of benefits that married couples normally receive.
But it's not true.
The reality is same-sex couples have access to nearly all of the benefits they claim they can't get. For example, they have the following rights made available through everyday legal contracts, wills and hospital forms:
- Hospital visitation
- Ability to authorize medical treatment
- Ability to make decisions about how to dispose the remains of deceased partners
- Ability to inherit property from a deceased partner
Other benefits already available to unmarried couples include health care coverage — offered by many employers — and protection under domestic violence laws. Even unmarried heterosexuals have access to all these rights.
So why are unmarried gays asking for special treatment? Because what they really want is full marriage. Domestic partnerships are just a stepping stone to the end goal.
"The … partnership law will provide only about 10 of the 1,049 rights of marriage.… That's less than 1 percent.… So we are not going to rest until we get 100 percent of marriage equality."
— Steven Goldstein, Garden State Equality spokesperson, as reported by 365Gay (2006)
