If gay marriage is legal in a state does it mean that the couple qualifies for the others' health insurance?
Thursday, August 5th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Is the marriage still recognized if the couple moves to a state that does not recognize gay marriage?
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Tagged with: gay marriage • marriage
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In the states that same sex marriage is legal, yes, the spouse qualifies for the others health insurance.
As far as moving or living in a different state, my twin sister and her wife got married in Iowa, but live in Florida. My sister in law had to go to court to get her name legally changed to her married name. Her employer won’t give her wife (my sister) the usual spouse benefits, which just sucks.
There are some employers that give same sex partners and/or spouses benefits even in states where same sex marriage isn’t legal yet, but you have to talk to you employer.
There are some states, like New Mexico, that don’t currently allow gay marriage yet, but recognize same sex marriages for couples who get married in other states.
So, if you are planning a wedding, and wondering what benefits you should apply for through your same sex partner’s employer, you have to check in each state, because it just depends where you are.
Hopefully in the next couple of years this will all get worked out and same sex couples will be able to live their lives without being told they aren’t entitled to the recognition heterosexual couples have. Hopefully the next generation will have the viewpoint about same sex marriage as we have about slavery, of course slavery is wrong. Of course same sex couples should be allowed to be married.
If a state does not recognize gay marriage, then the marriage is not valid in that state.
How many times do we have to say this. Marriage is a union of two people of different sexes, you are talking about Civil Partnerships and anyway I haven’t a clue.
In a state where gay marriage is legal, all marriage benefits like shared health insurance is qualified. In fact, such benefits are often qualified even in states where gay marriage is not legal. Simply establishing a civil union is acceptable for insurance purposes.
As for recognition in other states, there’s a tricky one. Under federal law, any marriage that is recognized in one state is required to be honored in another state. Yet Texas, just recently, refused to grant a divorce in a gay marriage (originally in another state) since Texas does not recognize the marriage in the first place. How can a divorce be granted where a marriage does not exist?
If I remember, I think a court ruled that Texas must grant the divorce. Anyway, there’s no simple, clear answer yet. It’s still a can of worms that states are dealing (or refusing to deal) with.
If a state recognizes gay marriage, then any benefits afforded to married couples in that state would also apply to same sex married couples. However, the answer to the second question is no, if the couple moves to a state that does not recognize gay marriage, the couple’s marriage does not mean anything in their new state. However, if the state recognizes foreign same sex marriages or civil partnerships, the couple may still get certain benefits for that. If the state does not recognize same sex marriage or other same sex unions, foreign or domestic, the couple is pretty much SOL. Basically, the issue is completely variable from state to state. Just to correct something a previous poster mentioned, the rule about states being required to recognize marriages from other states only appllies to heterosexual marriage, not same sex marriage. Per DOMA, each state has an entitlement to decide for itself whether or not to recognize any union between two people of the same sex as a marriage, whether or not that union is recognized as a marriage in another state. Here’s two links that give more info on this subject. The first shows same sex marriage laws in the U.S. state by state and the other is info on DOMA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_the_United_States
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Marriage_Act
That’s what it means and I will be the Pastor who will marry them in Mass.