| Governor Mark R. Warner
State Capitol, 3rd Floor Richmond, Virginia 23219 Dear Governor Warner: I am writing in regards to your support of same-sex marriage in the Commonwealth. The argument to allow the marriage of two people, regardless of their gender, is all about the right of same-sex couples to marry because it is simply not fair to deny some families legal protections all other families are eligible to receive. Did you know: � Married couples have the automatic right to visit each other in the hospital and make medical decisions. Same-sex couples can be denied the right to visit a sick or injured loved one in the hospital. � Married people receive Social Security payments upon the death of a spouse. Despite paying payroll taxes, gay and lesbian workers receive no Social Security survivor benefits. � Many public and private employers provide medical coverage to the spouses of their employees, but most employers do not provide coverage to the life partners of gay and lesbian employees. Gay employees who do receive health coverage for their partners must pay federal income taxes on the value of the insurance. In Virginia, companies are actually forbidden from OFFERING insurance coverage to same-sex partners. � A married person automatically inherits all the property of his or her deceased spouse without paying estate taxes. A gay or lesbian taxpayer is forced to pay estate taxes on property inherited from a deceased partner. � While a married person can roll a deceased spouse�s 401(k) funds into an IRA without paying taxes, a gay or lesbian American who inherits a 401(k) can end up paying up to 70 percent of it in taxes and penalties. � Married workers are legally entitled to unpaid leave from their jobs to care for an ill spouse. Gay and lesbian workers are not entitled to family leave to care for their partners. � Married couples have a legal right to live together in nursing homes. Because they are not legal spouses, elderly gay or lesbian couples do not have the right to spend their last days living together in nursing homes. � Laws protect married seniors from being forced to sell their homes to pay high nursing home bills; gay and lesbian seniors have no such protection. � After the death of a worker, most pension plans pay survivor benefits only to a legal spouse of the participant. Gay and lesbian partners are excluded from such pension benefits. Of course, one cannot forget the religious dilemma we face, especially in a conservative state like Virginia. Indeed, the answer to the apparent dilemma between religious beliefs and support for equal protections for all families lies in recognizing that marriage has a significant religious meaning for many people, but that it is also a legal contract. And it is strictly the legal -- not the religious � dimension of marriage that is what we are concerned with. Consider, for example, the difference in how the Catholic Church and the Commonwealth view couples who have divorced and remarried. Because church tenets do not sanction divorce, the second marriage is not valid in the church�s view. The Commonwealth, however, recognizes the marriage by extending to the remarried couple the same rights and protections of marriage as those granted to every other married couple in Virginia. In this situation � as would be the case in marriage for same-sex couples � the church remains free to establish its own teachings on the religious dimension of marriage while the government upholds equality under law. The bottom line, Governor Warner, is that as your support of this issue is deeply important to me and hundreds of other Virginians. I would appreciate learning of your support either by letter or other means. Please let me know what I can do to work with you so we can promote this issue in the most positive light. I look forward watching you promote equal rights for all Virginians. Sincerely, |