Friday, March 18, 2005

The Tip of the Iceburg

Read in the Boston Globe that now that same sex marriages are becoming legal, companies are expecting their employees to do the right thing....get married before demanding benefits. This is only the tip of the iceburg....a friend of mine had his wife walk out on him for another woman, and for 12 years took him for every thing he had. Last year the Ontario judge ruled that since she had lived in a "Consentual Sexual Relationship" with her girlfriend for more than 6 months she was subject to the rules of "common law". In other words, she was married to the other one, there would be NO impediments to divorce, and all support payments were to cease forthwith. This has become precedent now! Though I don't see the courts suddenly straining under the weight of gay divorces...but now a break up can lead to property divisions familiar to the 80% of us hetero's who have discovered that marriage isn't all rose petals in the bath and candles in the bedroom!
You know, this might be the start of a whole new world. Equality under the law, even for ex-spouses and employees adept at squeezing the tits of the system. Now there's a concept! A tiny light of encouragement...good to see.

Unmarried gay couples lose health benefits
By Kimberly Blanton, Globe Staff | December 8, 2004

Many of the state's largest employers are dropping health benefits for unmarried gay couples, seven months after Massachusetts became the only state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Massachusetts companies, some of which pioneered so-called domestic-partner benefits for unmarried, same-sex partners, said they are now withdrawing them for reasons of fairness: If gays and lesbians can now marry, they should no longer receive special treatment in the form of health benefits that were not made available to unmarried, opposite-sex couples.

more on this story here....
http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2004/12/08/unmarried_gay_couples_lose_health_benefits/?rss_id=Boston%20Globe%20--%20Business%20News

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