Gay Weddings are Good for Business

It seemed like there was something newsworthy about gay marriage every day this week, with the highlight being the decision in Maryland.  Read on to see what I mean:

In this weeks gay marriage and wedding news...

It was a good week for gay marriage.  Here's the rundown of the headlines:

One of the major disadvantages of DOMA is that gays and lesbians are unfairly taxed.  This means several important things:

There are many ways that being a gay wedding planner is different from your average wedding planner.  Although I'm not an attorney, I have to keep up on laws that may affect same sex couples.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is a law signed by President Clinton in 1996.  This law is designed to keep gay marriage an issue of the individual states.  DOMA states that the federal government will not recognize a gay marriage performed in a state where it's legal - and that a state where gay marriage is not legal does not have to recognize a gay marriage performed in a state where it is.

Gay Wedding Glossary

Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA): A federal law signed by President Clinton in 1996. This law is designed to keep gay marriage an issue of the individual states. DOMA states that the federal government will not recognize a gay marriage performed in a state where it's legal - and that a state where gay marriage is not legal does not have to recognize a gay marriage performed in a state where it is.

Just a few negative implications of DOMA include:  inability for a bi-national same-sex partner to get a green card by marrying his or her partner; and filing as "single" on federal tax returns.

On Wednesday, February 23, 2011, the Obama administration indicated that they would stop defending the use of DOMA in court (there are several cases pending).  This is progress, however DOMA will continue to be enforced until a Congressional repeal or a court renders a “definitive verdict” on whether DOMA is constitutional. Until that happens, DOMA will continue to block access to 1,138 Federal rights and responsibilities for gay couples.

Gay Wedding Glossary

Civil Union: A legal union of a same-sex couple, sanctioned by a civil authority. New Jersey, Illinois, Rhode Island, Delaware and Hawaii are the U.S. state with civil unions, though this changes all the time. For the most up to date information, check this page (PDF).  Civil unions were legal in Vermont and Connecticut at a time, before both states approved legal gay marriage.  Civil unions are not equal to marriage, though they provide some (but not all) rights of marriage.  Civil unions are not sanctioned by the federal government and couples with civil unions receive no federal benefits.  

Many same-sex couples, while they see civil unions as progress, still "hold out" for legal marriage before planning a wedding because they don't see much meaning in a separate and unequal institution.

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

Civil Partnerships:  Civil partnerships are the federally recognized equivalent of same-sex marriage.  Civil partnerships are the law in several countries, including the U.K., Ireland and Germany.

Civil partnerships bring identical rights, recognition and protections of marriage, to same-sex couples, without using the actual term "marriage".   A civil partnership is different from a civil union in the United States because civil unions are state laws and civil partnership are federal laws.  

Why not use the term marriage?  Marriage, while, at its heart, is a civil institution, has many religious associations.  Many politicians feel that "civil partnership" or "civil union" is a safer term and that it's easier to pass legislation using that term, instead of marriage.