I am sitting in the hospital with my friend. We are the Trouble twins so she will forever from this moment forward be known as Trouble2 or T2. I have been thinking today about how important marriage and marriage equality are in medical situations.
Yesterday I had trouble hunting her down in the hospital. Since her family decided to just abandon her in the hospital she was alone dealing with a heart attack for eight hours. Granted I am just her best friend but lets imagine she had been my long term girlfriend/boyfriend. In some cases I wouldn't even be allowed in my partners hospital room.
I would have no rights to speak to the doctor. I would not be notified in case of an emergency. I would not be allowed to make the tough decisions if something horrific happened. All of these rights would go to his/her next of kin.
In the event that something horrible happened I wouldn't have the rights to plan the funeral. Or receive any benefits. In the case that he/she was a veteran I wouldn't receive my partners flag.
You may think that a marriage certificate is just a piece of paper. You would be wrong. That is like saying as a parent that a birth certificate is just a piece of paper. That paper gives you rights as a parent that you wouldn't have otherwise.
It is time as a country to start changing our views on marriage. Marriage should become important again. Shacking up isn't going to cut it anymore. The people that are fighting for the rights that we take for granted need to be legally allowed those rights. The time for change is now!
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