Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Monday, November 8, 2004
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■ In my opinion
Marriage legislation —
protection or discrimination?
The issue of marriage, as seen in
the debate over Ballot Measure 36, as
well as similar petitions in 11 other
states, has prompted much discus
sion involving both the protection
and inclusiveness of this institution.
However, one group of Americans is
working to shed a different light on
marriage: That it is discriminatory
not just toward homosexual couples
but to single people as well.
The American Association for Sin
gle People (AASP) began in 1999,
and is a nonprofit, nonpartisan or
ganization which claims in its mis
sion statement to be an educator and
advocate for the estimated 86 million
unmarried citizens residing in the
United States. The AASP strives in
many ways to promote equal rights,
although some of its arguments may
seem pretentious. It claims that sin
gle people are discriminated against
because they pay the same social se
curity taxes as married couples, but
statistically do not live as long as,
and therefore receive a smaller per
centage of these benefits. This seems
akin to claiming that people with a
genetic predisposition toward addic
tive personalities should pay less tax
es than everyone else, because of the
chance that they might become ad
dicted to cigarettes and alcohol, and
therefore not live to reap as many
benefits as the rest of the nation.
Surely, tax policy cannot be based
around statistical maybes.
However, some of the AASP’s argu
ments ring valid. For instance, a
spouse can file jointly with his or her
partner and save in taxes, whereas an
unmarried citizen usually cannot file
with either a domestic partner or
blood relative, even if living expens
AILEE SLATER
FURTHER FROM PERFECTION
es are shared between them. This is
unfair not only to gay couples prohib
ited by law from marrying, but also
to couples engaged in non-marital,
long term relationships or cohabita
tion. Also, a spouse is allowed to
claim insurance benefits from his or
her partner’s job on the assumption
that the spouse is keeping house or
taking care of children. When a fami
ly has a structure other than hus
band, wife and children, it isn’t fair
to punish nontraditional arrange
ments. A divorced, single mother liv
ing with her sister and sharing re
sponsibilities should surely be just as
eligible for insurance coverage as the
homemaker and wife of a CEO. An
other problem is that if a person in a
gay or unmarried couple dies without
leaving a will, the partner has almost
no legal claims to joint assets pur
chased under the dead party’s name.
These are only a few examples of
the legal difficulties that unmarried
citizens face and it certainly appears
that the AASP actually has a reason
able case for the idea that single peo
ple are experiencing nationwide mis
treatment. The question then
becomes: Why does this unequal
treatment exist? I think many would
agree that it is indicative of a govern
ment pushing for the heterosexual in
stitution of marriage. More important
than simply fighting for the rights of
unmarried citizens, there is a greater
need to let go of this conservative
view of partnership all together.
According to most right-wing
politicians, the main reason for their
rabid promotion of heterosexual
marriage is that children cannot
thrive properly without a mother and
father. Yet, there is no conclusive evi
dence to back this up. Indeed, it
seems more logical that a child being
reared in an nontraditional manner
would actually turn out to be more
flexible and diverse than the child of
a nuclear family. Census studies
show that more than a third of U.S.
children are being raised in families
not made up of a married, biological
mother and father; so, perhaps more
thought should be put into education
for single, or potentially single, par
ents and people who are interested
in living and raising their children in
a cooperative housing setting.
Instead of simply taking a stand for
the traditional family structure, per
haps our nation should instead accept
the evolution of the family and pro
mote legal arrangements to ensure
that every person still has the best ac
cess possible to health care, fair tax
benefits and so on. Conventional
marriage is already a dying structure.
With discriminatory marriage defini
tions now on the books in more than
half of the states, the time could be
approaching when our society will
say good-bye to this institution alto
gether. And, perhaps, it is valid to ask
if maybe that is for the best.
aileeslater@ dailyemerald. com
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■ Editorial
Oregon
'dreamers'
abandon
progress
Once upon a time Oregon was nationally
recognized as a progressive western oasis:
We had “Little Beirut” and black-clad anar
chists, and we gladly branded ourselves
“dreamers,” a term almost as pejorative as
the word liberal these days.
Sadly, Oregon seems to have lost its
unique identity. The defeat of Measure 33
means we are no longer on the cutting edge
of the medical marijuana issue, and we vot
ed to ban gay marriage, joining 10 other pro
gressive powerhouses like Arkansas, Ken
tucky, Montana, Utah and Oklahoma.
Only two Oregon counties — Benton and
Multnomah — came out against Measure
36. In Lane County the results were almost
dead even, with supporters edging out op
ponents by less than 1,000 votes. Soon Ore
gon will be just like every other state in the
union, known more for our failing schools
and proximity to an active volcano than for
our visionary politics. We might as well
amend our state motto to say: “Oregon
loves dreamers, as long as they aren’t
dreaming about gay sex.”
As disappointed as we are about the
passage of Measure 36, it is only one
(largely symbolic) defeat in what promises
to be a long war. The Oregon Supreme
Court will hear arguments on the consti
tutionality of denying gay and lesbian cou
ples the right to marry — the ACLU claims
that Measure 36 is ambiguous enough to
allow for civil unions. And the Oregon
Legislature still has the opportunity to
make a real difference for same-sex fami
lies by extending to them the exact same
benefits afforded to married couples.
We aren’t there yet, but we will be. The
most important thing now is that we focus
on giving gay and lesbian couples access to
the over 1,000 state and federal benefits,
which help to keep families stable and chil
dren safe. If Oregonians can move quickly
and decisively to extend partnership bene
fits to same-sex unions, then maybe we can
once again regain our reputation as the
place with all those wacky progressives at
the end of the Oregon TVail. We can only
dream.
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Jennifer Sudick
Editor in Chief
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