The Gay Divorcee

This may anger some of my very conservative friends but I am in favor of marriages for gays. I think it is awful that a gay or lesbian partner is not allowed to visit their “spouse” in the hospital since they are not considered to be family. Nor can they share health packages or any number of benefits that are available to male – female marriages.

I also get angry when the religious right argue that the primary reason for marriage is “to be fruitful and multiply” as the Bible would put it. Well guess what. Since I can’t have children nor did I want them anyway, then based on the above argument I would be unable to get married, too. Not to mention the big business in contraceptives which would also defy that argument. If you don’t want gays or lesbians to be married in your church, then that is your right. But they should be allowed to marry elsewhere.

I think that whether you like it or not this country is moving towards allowing gay marriages. To appease the religious right they may call it civil unions instead of marriage but over the next few years it will be available in more and more states. As so often happens in this country, what was shocking or unthinkable five years ago will be mundane and commonplace within the next five years.

So this brings me to main point. As night follows day, where there are marriages then there will be divorces. If I were a young law student there are two new areas I would look into: internet law and gay divorce law. Just think about all the new legal questions a gay marriage and divorce would create. If Rosie O should marry her partner and then later divorce, which one would get custody of their children as they are both the “Mothers”. What about alimony? If one man makes more money then the other would he have to pay support until the lower earning male finds another partner? There would also be more demand for prenups as many of these couples are older, more established and have a greater need for a prenup. (I sure don’t see Elton John getting caught without a prenup after what just happened to fellow singer Paul McCartney.) Then there are the Private Investigators to be hired when one thinks their partner is cheating on them.

As the country moves slowly but surely towards civil unions for same sex marriages I wonder if anyone has thought about this. Then again, all those hungry lawyers and PI’s who see a huge new market have probably already figured out how they can make the most money for themselves. So even though gays and lesbians might win the right to get married it seems as if, once again, the biggest winners will be the lawyers.