Happy Anniversary!

Today, Kevin and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and we finally were able to free up the space in our freezer when we took out the top of our wedding cake and cut into it one year later.

The cake was sweet (like Kevin) and a little dry (like me), and it was the perfect way to end one year and kick off the next.

Thank you, baby, for sharing my life with me. I'm still the happiest man on the planet.

Equal = Equal

The following is a review of a 1997 and 2004 government report that outlined the specific benefits afforded married couples in the United States. These are benefits and rights denied gay and lesbian couples.

Right to many of ex- or late spouse's benefits, including:
-- Social Security pension

-- veteran's pensions, indemnity compensation for service-connected deaths, medical care, and nursing home care, right to burial in veterans' cemeteries, educational assistance, and housing

-- survivor benefits for federal employees

-- survivor benefits for spouses of longshoremen, harbor workers, railroad workers

-- additional benefits to spouses of coal miners who die of black lung disease

-- $100,000 to spouse of any public safety officer killed in the line of duty

-- continuation of employer-sponsored health benefits

-- renewal and termination rights to spouse's copyrights on death of spouse

-- continued water rights of spouse in some circumstances

-- payment of wages and workers compensation benefits after worker death

-- making, revoking, and objecting to post-mortem anatomical gifts

Right to benefits while married:
-- employment assistance and transitional services for spouses of members being separated from military service; continued commissary privileges

-- per diem payment to spouse for federal civil service employees when relocating

-- Indian Health Service care for spouses of Native Americans (in some circumstances)

-- sponsor husband/wife for immigration benefits

Larger benefits under some programs if married, including:
-- veteran's disability

-- Supplemental Security Income

-- disability payments for federal employees

-- medicaid

-- property tax exemption for homes of totally disabled veterans

-- income tax deductions, credits, rates exemption, and estimates

Joint and family-related rights:
-- joint filing of bankruptcy permitted

-- joint parenting rights, such as access to children's school records

-- family visitation rights for the spouse and non-biological children, such as to visit a spouse in a hospital or prison

-- next-of-kin status for emergency medical decisions or filing wrongful death claims

-- custodial rights to children, shared property, child support, and alimony after divorce

-- domestic violence intervention

-- access to "family only" services, such as reduced rate memberships to clubs & organizations or residency in certain neighborhoods

-- Preferential hiring for spouses of veterans in government jobs

-- Tax-free transfer of property between spouses (including on death) and exemption from "due-on-sale" clauses.

-- Special consideration to spouses of citizens and resident aliens

-- Spouse's flower sales count towards meeting the eligibility for Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Act

-- Threats against spouses of various federal employees is a federal crime

-- Right to continue living on land purchased from spouse by National Park Service when easement granted to spouse

-- Court notice of probate proceedings

-- Domestic violence protection orders

-- Existing homestead lease continuation of rights

-- Regulation of condominium sales to owner-occupants exemption

-- Funeral and bereavement leave

-- Joint adoption and foster care

-- Joint tax filing

-- Insurance licenses, coverage, eligibility, and benefits organization of mutual benefits society

-- Legal status with stepchildren

-- Making spousal medical decisions

-- Spousal non-resident tuition deferential waiver

-- Permission to make funeral arrangements for a deceased spouse, including burial or cremation

-- Right of survivorship of custodial trust

-- Right to change surname upon marriage

-- Right to enter into prenuptial agreement

-- Right to inheritance of property

-- Spousal privilege in court cases (the marital confidences privilege and the spousal testimonial privilege)

Spousal income and assets are counted in determining need in many forms of government assistance, including:
-- veteran's medical and home care benefits

-- housing assistance

-- happy birthday housing loans for veterans

-- child's education loans

-- educational loan repayment schedule

-- agricultural price supports and loans

-- eligibility for federal matching campaign funds

-- Ineligible for National Affordable Housing program if spouse ever purchased a home:

-- Subject to conflict-of-interest rules for many government and government-related jobs-- Ineligible to receive various survivor benefits upon remarriage

There are some laws that either benefit or penalize married couples over single people, depending upon their own circumstances:
-- Marriage penalty/bonus

-- Someone working for their spouse cannot be defined as an "employee"

-- Someone cannot change beneficiaries in a retirement plan or from waiving the joint and survivor annuity form of retirement benefit, without the written consent of his or her spouse

-- Wages can be garnished at a maximum of 60% (instead of the normal 25% limit) if the garnishing is for alimony or child support

Many thanks to Wikipedia for providing this review of marriage rights and benefits.

_____________________________________________

from EqualityMatters.org

On Sydney Harbor

Another one of my favorites from our recent trip down under...

Told you so...

From the top of our wedding cake...

... to the mouths of babes.

Honeymoon photos

Kevin and I are back from our postponed honeymoon in Cairns and Sydney, Australia. Here are a few of my favorite images and memories from our trip.

(Scroll over the photos for more info and links.)

We're still married... deal with it!

CAIRNS, Australia -- Wednesday, May 27, 2009, 2:35pm

Greetings from the future. As I write this, Kevin and I are on the other side of the world, enjoying our delayed honeymoon in Australia. In Cairns, it's tomorrow, and having just heard the news regarding the California Supreme Court decision that affirms our marriage last October, we're raising a glass in celebration of the 18,000 other same-sex couples who got married during that brief period between June and November last year, while our state had a brief moment of sanity. We also take pause concerning the Court's other decision, upholding Proposition 8 and the rights of bigots everywhere to strip their neighbors of their constitutional right to marry the one they love. So, the fight continues. For protests and demonstrations in your area, check out http://www.dayofdecision.com/. We'll join you when we're back in the States. Until then, to those who wish us well, God bless. All others can go fuck themselves.

Protect Marriage, Protect Children, Prohibit Divorce

Finally! A Petition for a California State Proposition that Prohibits Divorce between Heterosexual Married Couples...

Divorce destroys the sanctity of marriage and its powerful influence on the betterment of society. This proposition would keep the very meaning of marriage from being transformed into nothing more than a contractual relationship between two adults.

Prohibiting divorce between heterosexual married couples will keep the interests of children and families intact. We will continue to celebrate marriage as the union of husband and wife, not as a relationship between "Party A" and "Party B." The marriage of a man and a woman has been at the heart of society since the beginning of time and it promotes the ideal opportunity for children to be raised by a mother and a father in a family held together by the legal, communal, and spiritual bonds of marriage.

As a society we should put the best interests of children first, and those interests lie in traditional marriage. Permitting divorce destroys marriage as we know it and causes a profound harm to society. We should be restoring marriage, not undermining it.

And for those of you who voted yes on Prop 8 but disagree with this petition...Why? This petition is copied and pasted from literature from your website, ProtectMarriage.com, but applied to Divorce instead of Gay Marriage. So how can you argue with your own words?

Sign the petition by going here:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-marriage-protect-children-prohibit-divorce