We've heard exhorations from Republicans, Democrats, and sadly even from a few Libertarians that "civil unions" or "domestic partnerships" are just as good as marriage, and that same-sex couples should settle for this "separate-but-equal" status.  We've responded that marriage discrimination amounts to a very un-Libertarian redistribution of wealth from gay people to straight people.  We've even done our own analysis, which the Tax Policy Center (referenced in the article below) agreed with, showing that the proposed (and thankfully DOA thanks to not collecting enough signatures) "Domestic Partnership Initiative" would cost Californians billions of dollars.

But now there's a national publication that has done its own analysis, showing that the lifetime cost that same-sex couples face ranges from the tens of thousands of dollars to the millions of dollars, depending on income.  From the New York Times:

Here is what we came up with. In our worst case, the couple’s lifetime cost of being gay was $467,562. But the number fell to $41,196 in the best case for a couple with significantly better health insurance, plus lower taxes and other costs.

...

For wealthy couples with a lot of assets, on the other hand, the cost of being gay could easily spiral into the millions. Nearly all the extra costs that gay couples face would be erased if the federal government legalized same-sex marriage.