Faculty and staff at California State University, East Bay discussed what legal challenges LGBTQ couples will face now same sex marriage is legal in California.

As of June 2013, section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act was ruled unconstitutional. The Diversity Center has spent the past month working towards making a more active LGBTQ community on campus to promote a safe and supportive environment for the community.

Deb L. Kinney, attorney from Johnston, Kinney & Zulaica LLP came to campus on Feb. 4 to discuss taxes and legalities behind gay marriage.

Now, social security is being processed for some retirement, surviving spouse, and lump sum death payment claims for same sex marriages. There are both lifetime benefits as well as current benefits.

Currently 17 states and nine Native American tribes support same sex marriage. Within the new law, many questions arose about the benefits, responsibilities, and protections under federal law.

“Just because we got marriage, we thought it would be a piece of cake,” Kinney stated, “in fact it’s not quite that easy yet.”

Legally married couples can move freely to states where same sex marriage is not legal, but there are some setbacks. Some of their rights in same sex marriages are taken from state to state and some are not.

Those who are legally married in any state will be treated as married for federal tax purposes regardless of if they have moved to a state that does not recognize same sex marriages.

Within taxes, domestic partnerships and marriages are separate entities. Couples in domestic partnerships must file separately, because the federal government does not recognize them.

Most married couples, same sex marriages included, file joint tax returns because it is expensive to file under the separate but married category.

Property rights have brought on a large realm of questions. Many same sex couples use joint tenancy, however, the strongest way to hold a title, which is available to only married couples, is tenancy in its entirety which will ensure that upon death, their partner becomes the sole owner to the property.

The state of California does not offer tenancy in its entirety, but community property, which is like property owned jointly.

Even Medicare has been affected by the changes in the law.  In marriages, when one person is younger, and under benefits through the workplace of their significant other, it is not required by law to switch to Medicare until the one working reaches retirement.

Domestic partnerships are different in that, once age 65 is reached, the spouse cannot be under the healthcare provided by their significant other, they must switch to Medicare.

Special documentation is required for cases like hospital authorization, and these change in the states that same sex marriage is illegal. Hospital visitation rights don’t transfer in non-recognition states.

Adopting children has its obstacles; it is a generally common and recommended option within the LGBTQ community. When a child is born into a registered domestic partnership or same sex marriage, both parents have legal rights to the child by law.

As well, since January, the law states that a child can have three parents as long as the judge rules it in the best interest of the child.

Changes are in progress, and “nearly half of the adoptions in the San Francisco area are LGBTQ families,” Kinney said.

Amidst all of the confusion about legal rights, it is important to differentiate between same sex marriage, domestic partnerships, and civil unions.

Unions have become more uncommon than in the past because they have very minimal benefits. Domestic partnerships have no federal recognition, but they do have state recognition in states that recognize sex marriage. Same sex marriage is both recognized by the state and by the federal government.

“Civil unions and domestic partnerships need to stay different from marriage because we need to finish the battle,” said Kinney.

Same sex marriage is becoming more apparent in every day society and as society changes, it is expected same sex marriage rights will, too.