On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States revealed their decision on the same-sex marriage case that had reached their court. The case was called Obergefell v Hodges. In short, the Justices of the Supreme Court ruled that marriage equality is the law of the land. Kids of same-sex parents benefit from this decision in so many important ways.
The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license marriage between two people of the same sex. They also ruled the the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to recognize a same sex marriage that had been lawfully preformed and licensed out of state. The decision also means that the federal government now recognizes same-sex married couples in the same way that it recognizes opposite-sex married couples.
This ruling gives same-sex married couples the same rights and privileges that were previously only given to opposite-sex married couples. Kids of same-sex parents benefit from this in so many ways!
Adoption
In some states, same-sex married couples were not allowed to jointly adopt each other’s children. Only one parent would be officially recognized. This could have resulted in situations where one of the child’s parents would have no legal right to make medical decisions, or to travel out of state with the child, or to pick the child up from school.
Now, kids of same-sex parents are can be as secure as kids of opposite-sex parents. Both parents will be able to adopt all of the children that the couple has been raising together as a family.
Financial Security
Same-sex married couples can now jointly file federal income taxes. That could help the couple spend less on taxes than if they had to file separately. The money that is saved can go towards a savings account or be spent on the needs of the couple’s children.
When one spouse in a married couple dies, the other spouse is eligible for survivor’s benefits from the deceased spouse’s life insurance policy and social security benefits. That money is used to help the surviving spouse and the couple’s children keep their home and continue to pay the bills.
Same-sex couples are now eligible for that type of financial security. No matter what state they live in, same-sex couples are exempt from the estate tax that was unfairly enforced upon them after a spouse died.
Removal of Stigma
Some children can feel stigmatized if their parents are not married (and the adults around these children make a big deal out of it). There is something about marriage that makes a family feel legitimate, legally, emotionally, and socially. Kids of same-sex parents can now have the same status as kids of opposite-sex parents.
Image by torbakhopper on Flickr.
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