Gay marriage fraud! Oh noes!

[moonshaz]

Sue Everhart, Georgia GOP Chairwoman, Warns Of 'Free Ride' Gay Marriage Fraud

Georgia GOP Chairwoman Sue Everhart warned that straight people might enter into fraudulent gay marriages to obtain benefits, the Marietta Daily Journal reported Saturday.

"You may be as straight as an arrow, and you may have a friend that is as straight as an arrow,”

Comments

[nextdrinksonme]

And of course, two straight people could neeeeever enter a fraudulent straight marriage for the benefits and then just live their own lives. Nope, could never happen. Wait, I know three 'couples' who did just that? Well shucks.

[nitasee]

Can we say "greencard marriage"?

[nextdrinksonme]

These were more healthcare marriages.

[aviv_b]

yep. Know of one of these as well as a couple of green card marriages. I am never ceased to be amazed at the ignorance of some people.

[nitasee]

I was just suggesting another possibility. Though I've known of a few healthcare marriages and a greencard one.

[nextdrinksonme]

The idea of jumping to greencard marriages off the bat, while they do happen, is kind of problematic as it's a stereotype that all immigrants want to marry a native just so they can stay in the country. :-/

[nitasee]

Yeah, you're right about it being problematic. It is a stereotype. I didn't mean it that way. Just as another example marriage for benefits. It's honestly not what I think most immigrants want.

[nikoel]

I know of a healthcare marriage perpetrated by two gay people of the opposite sex! Mwahahahahaha!

[ragnor144]

My cousin and his girlfriend didn't see any point in getting marriage for 20 years until she lost her medical insurance. Not fraud per se since they were in a relationship, but not the reason for which conservatives uphold "traditional" marriage.

Added extra special un-romantic bonus: the decided to get married on 9/11 so neither one would forget their anniversary.

[roseofjuly]

Actually, nowadays I meet so many people around my age who got married for benefits or immigration rather than for "love". Most were already in relationships but were not yet strictly ready to get married. Me and my husband, ourselves, planned our wedding in 2 weeks because although we weren't particularly in a hurry to get married, the only way we could get couples housing at our university was to be married since we hadn't lived together for 6 months before the app deadline. (Here couples can only live together in a studio or one-bedroom if they can prove they had lived together for at least 6 months prior to their application or are married or in a legal domestic partnership. I think it's stupid, because why would two non-partnered people want to share a studio or one-bedroom rather than applying into the regular 3- and 4-bedroom apartments the university also provides?)

[nitasee]

No, I didn't mean it that way. See my responses above.

[carmy_w]

I'm very surprised that kids (sorry-I'm an old fart) going into college don't do the "marriage of convenience" thing so they can be independent of their folks' income and get Pell grants! I knew a couple that got married right out of high school (not a convenience one, or a shotgun; they just knew what they wanted), and they got basically free rides to college. They both had side jobs as well, and managed to scrape by.

[eajou]

Pell Grants don't even begin to cover to the cost of going to college these days. Getting married in college is actually harmful now, my husband can't get any grants at all even though he physically cannot work right now and we are living on one income. We'd have been better off in that regard just cohabitating.

/ Sorry, I just got into a fight over a family member over this today actually, because he started preaching about how people who cannot afford college with one or two jobs, while studying and maintaining grades, and can't graduate without debt are all lazy youngsters who don't know anything about life. Except, things are way~ different than they were years ago when college was actually affordable, aid actually covered college, and the cost of living was lower.

[carmy_w]

My apologies, and my sympathy. The years I was talking about were in the early 80s; a few decades of austerity politics makes a distressing difference! That's just shitty that the two of you can't get any grants with only a single income.

I have a stepson who, after....7 years of college, has over $100K of debt of his own; his girlfriend is in the same boat.

They are of an age and at that point where they'd like to get married, but Blane being the person he is, he HATES the idea of bringing that much debt into a marriage. But he can't see any way to do anything else, unless they wait another 6 to 8 years (if they both keep their current jobs, they'd qualify for the public job forgiveness program, and would have the balances written off).

[belleweather]

That got really trendy at my crazy-liberal alma mater and they locked down on it hardcore very very quickly. You could still get Federal aid, but they dropped your institutional aid to compensate.