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romantically involved with someone who does not have U.S. citizenship or legal residency status, and who more often than not has had access to healthcare benefits thru employers, I think its easier for me to willfully opt out of supporting the endeavors for marriage equality, and spend more of my time and resources focusing on campaigns dedicated to getting access to these things for everyone. This is where the life spot and individual needs of our community members come in. If I or my partner was parenting, could be deported or couldnt find employment due to immigration status, needed access to healthcare regularly, or was ill in the hospital, I would be hard pressed to forgo getting these immediate needs met, especially if I could have access to these things based on a partners insurance benefits, legal residency, or legal recognition of my parental relationship. While marriage equality is not the solution in the long term in regards to how we address the social disparities experienced by so many folks trying to survive in this country, it could be a stepping stone by which to get us to the ideal. Where it becomes problematic is historically when folks are getting their needs addressed they rarely come back to the table to make sure we all get them. While some may get immediate access to these things through marriage, many will not as neither person has benefits/citizenship/inheritance to share with the other. Would we be closer to amending some of these glaring gaps in accessibility if the resources and organizing around marriage equality was backing other things like universal healthcare, changing immigration legislation, legislation surrounding how institutions view family units? I also acknowledge that as someone who is transitioning and will have my marker changed to M in the future, I will soon enough be able to enter a legal marriage if choose. That being said I dont think that we as a community have to be on such opposing sides around the issue of marriage equality, and that we can more often than not be on the same side of wanting benefits for all people around accessibility. We dont have to single each other out, erase self identification, or devalue the importance of individual needs, to be in support of where people are in terms of needs, or where each of us comes from. I am still learning about this debate and welcome feedback. This is what I was thinking about today and I hope the discussion continues.......