Author Details Legal and Financial Hurdles Same Sex Couples Face

Deborah Jacobs detailed the extensive legal and financial hurdles same sex couples face, many of them stemming from the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act. Same sex couples are legally forbidden from doing things their heterosexual counterparts take for granted such as collecting each other's social security payments and sponsoring each other for citizenship. She points out that many state laws specifically forbid or fail to recognize same sex marriage, complicating an already difficult and unequal process. Her article on Forbes.com argues that while same sex couples assume the same financial burdens as heterosexual couples, they do not have the same legal rights and thus likens the current incongruities to the civil rights battles of the 20th century such as those that led to passage of the 19th amendment and the federal prohibition of segregation.