Why do gay couples want to get married?

I was married once and, believe me, DON'T DO IT!

Heh. ;)

and no family member who "disapproves" of their lifestyle can make them stay away

i knew a couple who had been together 30+ years, one had a heart attack and lingered a couple weeks. His sister arrived after not speaking with him for 40 years due to his "lifestyle" and kept his lover out of his room since she was "next of kin"

they never got to say goodbye and my friend died with a wicked witch by his side instead of his lover

it sucked so bad and that was 20 years ago. I have been for gay marriage ever since.

as a heterosexual woman, that's my take but what the heck do I know? :shrug:

How about BITCH? x(

bitchiness in her evil soul

poor man (the lover) he was devastated for months and died in less than a year. I always wondered if he would have lived longer if he had been able to say goodbye. He was much younger and in better health, i swear he died of grief

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

his only living blood relative, what could they do?

On the order of 1,400 legal rights are conferred upon married couples in the U.S. Typically these are composed of about 400 state benefits and over 1,000 federal benefits. Among them are the rights to:
joint parenting;
joint adoption;
joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents);
status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;
joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;
dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;
immigration and residency for partners from other countries;
inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;
joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;
inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);
benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;
spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;
veterans' discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;
joint filing of customs claims when traveling;
wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;
bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;
decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;
crime victims' recovery benefits;
loss of consortium tort benefits;
domestic violence protection orders;
judicial protections and evidentiary immunity;
and more....

http://www.religioustolerance.org/mar_bene.htm