Everhart said while she respects all people, if same sex marriage is legalized across the country, there will be fraud.This isn't the first time I've heard warnings about straight couples "defrauding" the institution of marriage if gay couples are allowed to legally married. This idea became the plot point behind "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" and a series of episodes on "The Drew Carey Show."
“You may be as straight as an arrow, and you may have a friend that is as straight as an arrow,” Everhart said. “Say you had a great job with the government where you had this wonderful health plan. I mean, what would prohibit you from saying that you’re gay, and y’all get married and still live as separate, but you get all the benefits? I just see so much abuse in this it’s unreal. I believe a husband and a wife should be a man and a woman, the benefits should be for a man and a woman. There is no way that this is about equality. To me, it’s all about a free ride.”
Check out Everhart's argument. She is warning America that heterosexuals are so craven that they will marry people of the same gender in order to access health care benefits. She is also implying that those same heterosexuals wouldn't seek out people of the opposite gender now to accomplish the same goal.
First off, I'm not saying that it won't happen. We have already seen people make marital decisions for financial reasons. They seek out those who are rich or have the strong potential to become rich. There are widowers who refuse to marry their new partners because they will lose access to their deceased spouses estates once they remarry. We have seen people who have entered into "Green Card" marriages in order to make immigration easier. I even know one couple that prolonged their divorce until their adoption finalized. So it wouldn't surprise me if a few folks married their best friend of the same sex in order to access benefits normally reserved for spouses.
But seriously, do you really think there will be a significant number of heterosexuals marrying people of the same-sex just to get insured? Additionally, if a guy is willing to "defraud" an insurance company (And I'm not sure it's really fraud -- once again, people get married or stay married for all sorts of reasons.) by legally marrying a male friend, I'm sure he will also be willing to insist on maximum alimony/palimony assistance if/when the couple eventually divorces.
I mean, imagine that a guy ("Guy A") is struggling to get health insurance and talks a friend ("Guy B") into marrying him and putting him on his insurance plan. Guy B eventually meets a woman and they decide to get married. So Guy B serves divorce papers on Guy A. Guy A doesn't want to lose his benefits, so he fights the divorce or he demands every penny of spousal support available to him.
I think that type of scenario will do wonders to discourage most heterosexuals from entering into same-sex marriages.