"If we give gay people civil rights, everyone will want them": Heterosexual Privilege

With Maryland being so painfully close to allowing same-sex marriages, I figured I'd get down Peggy MacIntosh style and write about all the privileges I have as a heterosexual today. With all my ranting about how the man has done me wrong on my race, religion, and gender, it's about time I recognize how he completely respects who I chose to have sex with. Here goes:

• I can get married to the man of my choosing in my state and have our marriage be recognized in other states.
• I can adopt a child without dealing with any hassle for having a partner of the opposite sex.
• If I get married, I can receive my husband's benefits and file for taxes as "married".
• On Valentine's day, I can count on having a card, balloon or other ridiculous paraphernalia to have a man and woman on it.
• I can go to any popular bar or club and have people to flirt and dance with.
• I never have to come out of a closet, or deal with the painful realization that my friends and family may disown based on the gender of who I have sex with.
• I can go on a date, and abide by the social norms of who's going to pay, who should be making the first move, etc.
• I can go out in public and be affectionate and hold hands with my significant other without fear of the hostility or anger that it might stir up.
• I can sit comfortably while others in the room degrade other people and even refer to inanimate objects as "gay" or "faggish" without feeling the underlying hate that's stabbing at my sexuality.
• I know my job (when I get one) will not fire me based on my sexual orientation.
• I can dress however I want and not worry about looking flamboyant or attracting the wrong attention.
• Who I can marry will not be dictated by a religion I don't believe in, in a country that was founded on religious freedom.
• Who I can marry, is not re-enforced by ridiculous arguments that my being married will lead to marriages between people and animals, adults and children, and apparently even people and robots.
• I can count on seeing heterosexual couples on movies, t.v. and magazines, and know that my society is perfectly okay with the way I choose to live my life.
• I can refer to myself as "straight" and not think twice about the connotation that everything else must be deviant.
• There are no laws banning the way I choose to have intercourse. Although, either way, the 14th amendment has my back now.
• I can experience true love, the most powerful and all encompassing emotion of the human spirit, and not be told that I am doing something wrong or sinning at the same time.

I know there is so so much more than what I have up here. Feel free to contribute via comments. At the end of the day, it's about time we start loving and accepting each other and bring it back to the real truth: All people are created equal. Our government and society should not be telling us otherwise. This fight for equality is about ALL of us. No one is free when others are oppressed.