Advantages

First the good news. Advantage Rent-a-Car refunded the gay-partner
charge. They previously had no policy on waiving the additional driver
fee ($10 a day--pretty hefty) for same-sex couples, but after my
complaint letter, they gave it back. Now I'm working on changing their
policy so others like M and me--as well as special friends and
non-coupled people--don't wind up in this same predicament.

(If you're interested in assisting me in that, send a friendly email to hr@advantage.com asking them to please adopt a policy recognizing same-sex partners and waiving the additional driver fee.)

The bad news is that I'm very upset tonight about how gay people are
continually viewed and treated insofar as marriage. This article did
not give proper justice to one person who spoke up against straight
marriage until it is available to everyone. The comments on this
article--which was reposted WIDELY thanks to the Associated Press--were nothing but abusive and unfair toward her and her POV. If only
people would step back and see that she HAS a POINT. MOST straight
people who get married are completely blind to the fact that marriage
is an antiquated industry that continues to oppress others. The minute
someone stands up to this in a public forum, she is name-called. I'm
sick over it. This kind of name-calling is at the root of gay-bashing. It
stems from the same roots of othering those who are not in the
mainstream, those who have the courage to speak up for the underdog,
and even more unique, to actually act on their behalf (as opposed to
just nod vehemently in fake-solidarity).