Legislation approved on Friday by the Maryland Senate empowers all unmarried “life partners” to make health and funeral decisions for each other. Sen. Alex X. Mooney (R-Frederick), seeing the legislation as a step toward homosexual marriage, wasn’t pleased by the 31 to 16 approval and commented that One day [Maryland is] going to wind up like Massachusetts. Oh no! Not Massachusetts! Anything but Massachusetts!

I don’t view the legislation as a step towrds homosexual marriage at all. I view it as giving un-married people the rights they need to take care of their loved ones. This is exactly the type of legislation I am all for. I’d rather see queers obtain all the rights married people have and not be allowed to marry than be handed some type of second class legal marriage that everyone would get all excited over at first just because of the stupid piece of paper and later find out their marriage isn’t exactly like a straight one in the eyes of the law. How’s that for a run-on sentence?

Terri Schiavo is bringing what queers go though everyday into the spotlight.

Here’s a great summary of where we stand now:

Partners of gay hospital patients often can’t even visit, much less make life-and-death decisions for their loved ones, particularly if blood relatives object, said Carissa Cunningham of Gay&Lesbian Advocates&Defenders, a Boston-based group.

My question is why are we not taking the energy we spend fighting for marriage and using it to fight, instead, for rights that married people have? If we had the same rights they do, we wouldn’t need marriage. Unless, of course, you are still stuck on that piece of paper.