Move over, Ozzie and Harriet. According to Talk Business (citing Tod Yeslow at MWSGW), the Dept. of Labor has expanded the definition of “son” or “daughter” under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) so as to include “families in the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.”
According to Yeslow, under the Dept. of Labor’s Administrator’s Interpretation No. 2010-3, “[a]n employee who assumes the role of caregiving for a child is entitled family leave regardless of their legal or biological relationship to the child.”
This seems to support the theory underlying my position on gay marriage that, if we remove religion from the government’s decision on the issue (which we undoubtedly should), marriage is but a state-granted institution that imposes certain duties and imbues the couple with certain rights, in many ways similar to two people forming an LLC or other legal entity, and I have yet to hear a valid secular reason for denying these rights/responsibilities to gay and lesbian couples.