Heterosexuals are protected by $40 license, but wills and legal safeguards for same-sex couples cost thousands By Rex W. Huppke Tribune reporter January 18, 2010 If Howard Wax and Robert Pooley Jr. were a heterosexual couple, they could’ve gone to their nearest Cook County clerk’s office, paid $40 for a marriage license and been wed. That would have provided them an array of legal protections — the right to make medical decisions...

October 3, 2009 New York Times By TARA SIEGEL BERNARD and RON LIEBER Much of the debate over legalizing gay marriage has focused on God and Scripture, the Constitution and equal protection. But we see the world through the prism of money. And for years, we’ve heard from gay couples about all the extra health, legal and other costs they bear. So we set out to determine what they were and to come up with a round number — a couple’s lifetime cost...

By 365gay Newswire 06.24.2009 10:30am EDT Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin introduced the Ending Health Disparities for LGBT Americans Act (ELHDA) on Tuesday, the first comprehensive approach to improving all areas of the health care system where lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Americans face inequality and discrimination. “Our current health care system fails LGBT Americans on many levels,” said Baldwin in a statement. “Although we have...

Sat, 12/13/2008 - 12:29pm by Jeff of ProudParenting.com The AP reports that New York state officials will now let married same-sex couples list both their names on their children’s birth certificates. The decision, which echoes similar provisions in states that allow gay marriages or civil unions, is one of many changes since Gov. David Paterson ordered state agencies in May to respect out-of-state gay marriages. The state Health Department...