Marriage Rights - Do We Really Need Them?

I have been involved in numerous conversations related to the Benefits of Marriage. People often ask me why LGBT couples would actually want the right to get married. I suppose to straight people, and maybe to our society in general, marriage seems like a commitment between two people, one accompanied by a piece of paper, which really amounts to not much more than that - a formal commitment and a piece of paper.

And so I suppose the push-back I've heard on the issue of Gay Marriage stems from a lack of understanding of rights provided to couples through the Institution of Marriage.

Afterall, gay and lesbian couples can have a formal commitment ceremony. So what's the big deal about the piece of paper?

Recently someone asked me for a list of the benefits marriage affords to straight couples. In the recesses of my brain, I seemed to remember hearing there were some 100 benefits afforded to married people. After a quick search, I found out I was WAY wrong.

There aren't 100 or so benefits of marriage ....

There are nearly 1500 benefits!!!

In 1996, there were more than a thousand federal laws in which a couple's marital status would provide them with benefits, rights or privileges not accessible to unmarried couples.

Each state provides another 400+ benefits, rights and privileges to married couples.

So can same-sex couples live without marriage benefits? Sure. But it seems a little unfair to reserve those 1500 benefits, rights and privileges just for straight people, don't you think?