I recently finished listening to the Justice Talking episode "The Power of One: Are Singles Getting a Fair Shake?" and wanted to offer some feedback on the show.
I was actually rather upset that Ms. Adler gave so little attention to gay marriage rights. While mentioned, the commentary and questions largely ignored that gay and lesbian couples seeking marriage are like blacks seeking membership in an all-white country club. Churches split over this issue (see http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?coll=news_articles&sernum=2006/12/18/1&page=1) , our President wants the prohibition of this right written into the Constitution, and your guest Ms. Gallagher has gone so far as to speak before Congress in favor of denying gays and lesbians the right of marriage. Her closing comment that society has the right to discriminate between relationships that are important to the well-being of society and ones that she and others deem unimportant went completely unchallenged. To give no more than passing acknowledgement of this issue on a show called "Justice Talking" seemed ironic.
I realize the title of the show and focus was really much more on single people. However, by failing to acknowledge the heterosexism inherent in this issue, you also failed to note that the issue is not the same for gays and lesbians. Two straight people in a cohabitating relationship, following the advice for example of Mr. Hertz, could draw up a legal contract that allowed one to inherit the property of the other. Two gay or lesbian adults could do the same, but have no guarantee a court would honor it at all, especially if the deceased's family protested.
Two straight people in a cohabitating relationship could still biologically conceive a child or adopt a child in forming their family. Both would then be able to provide health insurance for the child, for example, or make legal or medical or educational decisions for the child. A gay or lesbian couple in many states is barred from this (as one parent may not be biologically related at all and is prohibited under second parent adoption laws), and in Florida (I believe this is still the law) gay and lesbian couples are barred from adopting at all.
The list of differences goes on. A straight cohabitating victim of domestic violence in Ohio, it is argued, is still protected under the State's domestic violence laws (http://www.gay.com/news/article.html?2006/12/12/4) no matter what lawmakers intended about gays and lesbians seeking marriage. In many states though, the domestic violence laws provide no protection to gays and lesbians in violent relationships by design and specific wording, and little to those who are single.
I know you've done several other shows on gay marriage, and that this was not the focus of this show. However, I think a bit more attention could certainly have been paid to the issue without derailing the focus of this show.