thomsen.

First, let's address what marriage is in the United States. Marriage is a legal contract between to people (mostly commonly and historically between one man and one woman) to co-habitate and have children. There are a variety of government benefits that come along with being married. The biggest benefit of being married is probably the tax benefit. Other than that, the rest of the benefits are legal conveniences such as:

- joint parenting;

- joint adoption;

- joint foster care, custody, and visitation (including non-biological parents);

status as next-of-kin for hospital visits and medical decisions where one partner is too ill to be competent;

- joint insurance policies for home, auto and health;

- dissolution and divorce protections such as community property and child support;

- immigration and residency for partners from other countries;

- inheritance automatically in the absence of a will;

- joint leases with automatic renewal rights in the event one partner dies or leaves the house or apartment;

- inheritance of jointly-owned real and personal property through the right of survivorship (which avoids the time and expense and taxes in probate);

- benefits such as annuities, pension plans, Social Security, and Medicare;

- spousal exemptions to property tax increases upon the death of one partner who is a co-owner of the home;

- veterans' discounts on medical care, education, and home loans; joint filing of tax returns;

- joint filing of customs claims when traveling;

- wrongful death benefits for a surviving partner and children;

- bereavement or sick leave to care for a partner or child;

- decision-making power with respect to whether a deceased partner will be cremated or not and where to bury him or her;

- crime victims' recovery benefits;

- loss of consortium tort benefits;

- domestic violence protection orders;

- judicial protections and evidentiary immunity;

and more....

You'll notice that most of these are legal conveniences.