It's a pain in the bank account as well. The green bars in the above chart indicate the value of benefits provided to the partners of gay and lesbian employees at the San Francisco Examiner in 1989. That is to say, there were none. Spouse gets the benefit automatically if the employee dies. No time off is guaranteed for the death of a partner or a member of partner's family.
Employee can name anyone as beneficiary.
A partner is ineligible. And the benefits listed above are only those related to the workplace. Other monies lost are related to inheritance, house and car insurance, frequent flyer use, and possibly taxes.