Apr 02, 2007Quickie Link: All We Want Is Equal Treatment --by Harvey Fierstein
By Kyleovision
For years, the right wing has wrongly accused the gay movement of seeking special rights. At no time has our struggle for equal rights been more transparent than in the fight to legalize marriage for gays and lesbians. Those who push civil unions as a solution to the dilemma sicken me. To offer civil unions to some citizens and marriage to others is simply un-American. The only way to advocate for civil unions is to concurrently abolish marriage for all. Our rule of law has been interpreted as "separate but equal is not equal." How much more simply do you need the law explained?
Not only are civil unions unconstitutional, they are unworkable. Allow me relate the following example: My friend Charlie and his partner have been civilly unionized and, thanks to that law, his partner is covered under Charlie's union health insurance. However, at tax time Charlie received notification from the feds that he was responsible for an extra $10,000 of income for that coverage. As a married couple, the coverage would not be taxable income. That, my friends, is not even separate-but-equal. That is institutionalized second-class citizenship.
