Equal Treatment

Everyone knows around here that I don't care if gay folks get married. It's simply not my business. However, with as fucked up as Californian law is, I would NEVER move there or get married there. Here's a prime example:

Ron Garber knew his former wife was living with another woman — and had taken her last name — when he agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony.

What he didn't know was that the two women had registered with the state as domestic partners under a law that was supposed to mirror marriage law, Garber said.

State marriage laws say that alimony ends when the former spouse remarries, and Garber reasons he should be off the hook, given that domestic partnership is akin to marriage.

Mr. Garber is right. His wife was living with another woman, TOOK HER LAST NAME, and even registered as "domestic partners". But alas, a judge ruled against him:

But an Orange County judge has decided that registered partnership is cohabitation, not marriage, and that Garber must pay.

"This is not about gay or lesbian," Garber said. "This is about the law being fair."

Exactly right. If his wife had gone off with another man and she took his last name, then he would be off the hook for the alimony. So why is it any different because she went off with another woman? Gay people want equal treatment, and I'm all for that. But with equal treatment comes equal ups and downs, and this woman took the last name of her girlfriend/wife and now she still wants the $1,250 a month? That's greed on a very high level. It's wanting your cake and eating it too.

As a side note, let's talk about alimony. Why is it fair for someone to bust their ass and provide a good living to his/her family and then have to pay that other person a monthly amount of money to do nothing? For example, let's say a guy runs a small shop that becomes successful. Regardless of who left whom, the shop should either be sold and the profits split in half, or future profits will be split in half.

How often to you hear about men getting alimony? Almost never. The reason is that judges simply feel that a man can go out and get a job and that's that. They don't have the same reasoning when it comes to women. They figure the poor woman was just being a dutiful wife and the evil man ran off with his secretary. I've seen it time and time again.

If you want to fix these screwed up laws, you can mirror Washington state's law. Split everything down the middle that you two made while you were married. That's it. She comes into the marriage with a paid off home? She leaves the marriage with the same paid off home? Starting off life together? Split it down the middle when divorce city rolls down.

It's simple and it's fair, regardless of sexual orientation or who left or why. No alimony, fair child support, and nothing else.

Travis
travis@rightwinglunatic.com