Till Death Do Us Part By Dawn Harrington

Mickie and Lois met in 1986 while working for the Tampa police department, both were officers and friends, eventually falling in love and realizing they were soul mates. On May 25,1991 they held a commitment ceremony at the Metropolitan Community Church in St. Petersburg Fla. They were inseparable for more than 10 years then July 6, 2001 came, that summer morning Lois was on duty when a call for a bank robbery came in. Lois was gun down by the bank robber as she chased him through a parking lot. She was the first Tampa police-woman to be killed in the line of duty. Mickie has lost her partner, lover, best friend.

Lois’s family and Mickie were always close and they treated her like Lois’s spouse, but when Mickie applied for Lois’s pension as the surviving spouse the family opposed it and sought the benefits themselves. The pension board unanimously turned Mickie down voting to award Lois’s pension contributions to her blood relatives. Other then making a will, which they did not, there was nothing else the couple could have done to be treated like spouses because they were not allowed to be married.

You hear politicians saying it all the time, “I support civil unions, but not gay marriage.” What does that mean? What is marriage? When people marry they tend to do so for love & commitment but marriage is also a legal status which comes with rights & responsibilities. Marriage establishes a legal kinship between you and your spouse. It is a relationship that is recognized across cultures, countries, and religions.

What is a Civil Union? Civil unions exist in only a handful of places like NJ, WA and OR. Vermont was the first state to create civil unions in 2000 to provide legal protections to gays & lesbians within their state because gay marriage was not an option. No federal protections are included with a civil union. Civil unions offer some of the same rights & responsibilities as marriage but only at state level.

So, as you can see there is a difference between marriage and civil unions. Mickie and Lois didn’t have either one, they had a commitment ceremony. So what is a commitment ceremony? Commitment Ceremony A commitment ceremony is a way for a couple to show their dedication to one another without the legal confines of marriage. Commitment ceremonies are used when couples are not legally allowed to marry. So you guessed it, marriage= rights, civil union= some rights, commitment ceremony= no rights

In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). The DOMA does two things, First it says that no state shall be required to recognize the laws of another state in regard to the same sex marriage. Second it defines the words “Marriage” and “Spouse” in federal law. So what does this mean? Essentially, Mickie and Lois could not have gone to a different state to get married and then live in Florida. Florida does not recognize gay marriage, civil unions or even domestic partnerships. Some counties in Florida are now recognizing domestic partnerships which only gives you the right to make key decisions such as funeral arrangements and hospital visits. Tampa recognized this on April 13, 2012

Creating civil unions creates a separate and unequal status for some of Americans citizens. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that creating a separate class for gay and lesbian citizens is not permissible and that is why they have voted that only marriage equals marriage. Civil unions are not recognized by the federal government, so couples would not be able to file joint tax returns or be eligible for tax breaks or protections the government affords to married couples.

Unless your married you can not get survivor benefits. Social Security Sick Leave Tax Breaks VA benefits Some other benefits include Family discounts Obtaining family insurance through employer Making medical decisions if your partner is unable to Civil unions protect some of these rights but not all.

Under current Florida law, same-sex marriage, civil unions, and domestic partnerships are not recognized. Same-sex marriage & civil unions were constitutionally banned on November 6, 2008 with 62% of the vote. On November 18,2003, Massachusetts Supreme Court rules that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. On May 17, 2004, The first legal same-sex marriages in U.S. history were performed in Cambridge,MA.

The United States Constitution guarantees equality for all. As you can see marriage and civil unions are not the same, creating equal access to marriage is the only fair way to ensure equality for gay and straight couples alike. If this was the case and everyone had the same rights Mickie would not have to legally battle with a family that was once hers and would be a awarded full spousal benefits that I’m sure Lois would have wanted for her “wife”.

Work Cited Mickie Mashburn. Copyright Till Death Do Us Part. Article 37. The Advocate. Print