Gay Weddings are Good for Business

Gay Wedding Glossary

Family Law:  Same-sex couples must complete additional legal paperwork in order to protect their family in case of emergency.  Because of DOMA, married same-sex couples are not entitled to the same rights as married opposite-sex couples when they leave the state in which they were legally married.  This means, for example, that the non-birth parent in a same-sex family has no rights when the couple travels to a state where same-sex marriage is not recognized, unless the non-birth parent has gone to court to legally adopt the child through second parent adoption.  Second parent adoption, health care proxies, wills and durable power of attorney are all essentially mandatory (and expensive) for same-sex couples, especially those with children.

This is relevant to wedding planning because as part of a comprehensive action plan, it is important that wedding planners and venues, in particular, identify resources in their own community that can provide these legal services to protect your same-sex client's family.

Gay Wedding Glossary

Name Changes:  Many same-sex couples do not change their name after marriage, especially if they have been a couple for a long time.

It is harder for same-sex couples to change their name after marriage than it is for their heterosexual counterparts.  Certified marriage certificates from states in which same-sex marriage is legal do not generally work as a document for name change if the couple lives in a state where same-sex is not legal.  

Those same-sex couples that do change their name often hyphenate but sometimes choose a new name entirely.

Gay Wedding Glossary

Family:  An inside term frequently used by LGBTQ individuals to discreetly refer to other LGBTQ individuals, ie, "I think that photographer is family."