re: #332 JohnAdams
Well I don’t know if most gay couples would rather do without.
FOR instance - a gay couple who are friends of mine, have had a monagous relationship and have lived together for 37 years now. Now that they are older, they are concerned, for example, with inheritance laws, and with - especially since a Will can provide what the inheritance will be EXCEPT FOR CERTAIN THINGS - e.g. rent stabilization in NYC* - the right to visit a partner who is in a hospital, perhaps dying, where the hospital’s rules are only spouses or blood relatives can see the patient.
*Rent Stabiization in NYC says that a rent stablized apartment (much valued because of the lower rents the whole rent stabilization process leads to) can ONLY be handed down to a brother, sister, child or spouse of the individual who signed the lease. That a gay partner has lived there for 37 years doesn’t matter under current NYC law.