Friday’s announcement of the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Varnum v. Brien carried with it a host of social, legal and financial consequences.

Despite the cries for a constitutional amendment and judicial reform, Iowa’s high court will have brought huge benefits to the lives of those who choose to take advantage of their newfound freedom.

There are several you’ve probably heard cited time and again in the argument for equal rights:

• Receiving family rates for health, homeowners’, auto and other types of insurance.
• Filing joint income-tax returns.
• Obtaining insurance benefits through a spouse’s employer.
• Making medical decisions for your spouse if he or she becomes unable to express their wishes.
• Filing for joint adoption.
• Receiving your spouse’s Social Security, Medicare and disability benefits.
• Obtaining immigration and residency benefits for a non-citizen spouse.
• Inheriting a share of your spouse’s estate.

But there are several rights your parents may have enjoyed that you overlooked:

• Taking familial leave to care for your spouse during an illness.
• Taking bereavement leave if your spouse or one of your spouse’s close relatives dies.
• Visiting your spouse in a hospital’s intensive care unit or during restricted visiting hours.
• Applying for joint foster-care rights.
• Receiving veterans’ and military benefits for spouses, such as those for education, medical care or special loans.
• In these precarious economic times, the right to file for joint bankruptcy.
• Automatic inheritance in the absence of a will.

Then they’ll enjoy a host of other discounts and incentives offered only to married couples and families by businesses.

Although some of us may be at odds with the ideas of same-sex couples marrying, adopting and, generally, assuming the full responsibilities most heterosexual couples bear, we cannot, in good conscience, attempt to argue against the Court’s decision and the rights those affected will soon enjoy.

Civil equality.

It seems to be the incessant plight of our democratic nation to suffer the majority’s voice in the struggle to see it realized.

If feels good to know that a battle against an injustice was won in our lifetime.