Accepting a same-sex partner to live with is currently very similar to a heterosexual live-in relationship. Before committing to a life-long companionship, beyond sex, fitness, wealth, and progeny, there is a period of concealment, apprehension, trials, and weakness; in short, general uncertainty. Marriage is committed when one is completely confident in one’s disposition, capacity, and strengths.
The biggest distinction in a marriage is that one partner can totally relinquish the act of earning an income. In an unhappy marriage, the partner has full rights to half of the ‘family income’. If there are children, the family still meets their needs, and many people cope with disloyal partners for the happiness of the children. Same-sex marriages may stall due to a lack of offspring. It might also be impossible to decide which partner was responsible for the income.
In a live-in relationship, a breakup goes unannounced. There is no divorce, either mutual or contested, leaving the ‘wronged’ partner to lick one’s wounds silently. If there is a same-sex marriage and the partners decide to share the burden of homemaking, one of them might not have a separate income. If they divorced, the same divorce laws would apply to them.
To me, living together does not require social sanction. Many people do that with friends. Keeping family resources separate is a bigger dilemma. Money laundering among family members is a common legal dispute, disputes over immovable property, whether owned or rented, abound, the need for an heir is paramount for wealthy people, and name and fame are intrinsic to any social status. A ‘spouse’ receives equal respect, whereas a live-in partner is obscure. In societies where no stigma is attached to live-in relationships, single parents, or unmarried mothers, there is no urgency to sanction same-sex marriage.
I believe that the current situation in our country necessitates attention to other issues, and that both the government and the court can dismiss the 15 petitions from homosexuals. We have a large population, and the judiciary is overburdened trying to heal heterosexual marriages. If any adult wants to separate from their parents and live with a friend, no one’s stopping them.
