It carries with it hundreds of protections, benefits and responsibilities that cannot be replicated in any other way.
Germany, which also has a large Catholic population, grants gay couples protections, benefits and responsibilities traditionally reserved for married men and women.
And it was this background music that suffused the decision Tuesday by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court that same-sex couples have a state constitutional right to the "protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage".
The federal decision, she said, "made the freedom to marry even more urgent than before because the state stood between these families and a host of federal protections, benefits, rights and responsibilities".
And deregulation injures worker safety, the environment and, other protections benefiting all of us, while the resulting higher profits of corporations, freed from these social costs, enrich those at the top.
Many of them enter the military during their youth and put in 20 years with the hopes of retiring from service with the protections, benefits and pensions to last the rest of their lives.
Of course, like any player, Manning would receive the injury protection benefit were he unable to continue his career due to a football injury (his neck).
How beautiful will life be when you are grateful for the protection, benefit, and beautiful experiences that you are being blessed with daily?
The justices will have upheld every single consumer protection, benefit and coverage expansion, including the ban on discrimination against the sick.
