With the government pushing benefits to partners brings up some issues for debate.

The current federal and state laws have some flaws in them.

If partners are entitled to benefits they should be responsible in other areas.

What I can think off.

IRS:

If a person owes the IRS money on their return(s) and it is not a joint return only that individual is liable for the funds due.

If a partner is entitled to other benefits they should be joint liability.

Federal benefits:

In some cases when applying for benefits SNAP for one the "household income of all members are to be included on the application.

Yet household members are not entitled to each others benefits if they are not listed as a dependent of that person.

Household members:

This brings up the issue of people living together as "household member(s)" sharing the expense of the household but they are not entitled to another household members benefits in most cases.

The point:

If you make same sex benefits available to a partner then benefits should be made available to a "household member".

The government might better rewrite all applicable laws to make this equal.