Unmarried folks: How do you feel about the benefits, both social and legal, that married couples get?

As an unmarried person who is the child of an unmarried person who has chosen to be unmarried I often think about the many advantages that married couples have. First off, there are tax benefits. Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure what they are but I know that as one half of a legally married couple, I would be paying less on my taxes than I do now as a legally unmarried person. Then there is automatically becoming next of kin, having parental rights I’m referring both to step-parents and the fact that the man married to a pregnant woman is legally the father of her child even if biologically, he is not, being able to share insurance, and having greater benefits if one spouse is in the military. I’m sure there are more, but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

From my mother’s perspective, as someone who has chosen to have no romantic partner, there are a huge number of social benefits to being married. Many activities are designed for couples and a large portion of those activities are designed for heterosexual couples as well. A person having a meal at a restaurant by him/herself is treated differently than a couple, and, depending on the kind of restaurant, a single person may be treated with open pity.

So, fellow unmarried Jellies both Jellies who are not legally married and Jellies who are single, how do you feel about the benefits that married couples get?