And his long time girlfriend Jerry Hall, except they were together 20 or 25 years. He even married her in a fake ceremony in Indonesia! It happens all the time to all kinds of people, gay or straight. I am not saying Martina is right or good either, I am just saying rich and famous people do this all the time.

Though legally she could have required her estranged husband to pay half of household expenses, she did not request he pay his share of the vet bills because the dog and cat stayed with her and were a source of emotional comfort.

Several years later, when they were in the final stages of the property settlement, her soon to be ex brings out a bank statement from the day he moved out. She had to counter and collect documentation he'd written checks that hadn't cleared on that day.

I understand why survivors of failed marriages end up so terribly embittered since this is what it all too often comes down to for those of ordinary means.

Legally, Martina will, with the help of her lawyers wiggle out of any kind of sharing of her wealth (do you think she has her lawyers on retainer each time she gets into a relationship?) However, I believe that her legal obligations are different from her ethical obligations and perhaps the real deal is that Martina's history is more about who she is in the world - lonely, ungiving and at some level, realizes that the only way someone will be with her, is if she offers financial incentives while they're together. How sad to live like this. I hope that for her sake, she learns to value herself and consequently others, with or without her money.

I do. This is about the same thing, with Navratilova's lawyers making the same arguments Lee Marvin's lawyers made. There's a good article about the Marvin suit here:

http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/21/entertainment/et-avins21

Don't make this all about a lesbian dissing gay relationships. This kind of thing has been happening in straight relationships for about 30 years now.

Much of this discussion seems fact free. I agree that, without knowing much of anything, Martina sounds like a cad. But for all we know, the plaintiff is a sociopath. I suppose division of marital assets law has become generally not fault based, but I'm not certain there's no role for fault. The length of the relationship seems to suggest the ex-partner is not simply a sociopath, but who knows what Martina learned? Celebrities are definitely tempted to be users, and many are, but they are also used.

Using homophobic arguments ain't great, and I tend to agree with the letters that say devaluing a gay relationship is very bad form. But assume the worst about the ex-partner--the absolute worst. Say Martina has learned she is a fiend who has done unspeakable forms of betrayal, theft, etc., and that, in truth, she never saw Martina as anything but a mark--say the evidence tells Martina that her partner was an impostor, someone who didn't really value the relationship as the moral equivalent of a marriage. If you were Martina, what would you do? Would you use any available legal argument to get rid of her? Would you give a complete evil phony millions of dollars as an abstract statement in favor of gay marriage, knowing that she had been conspiring and laughing at your naivete for years? Please note, this is all fact free. This is a hypothetical. What would you do?

I'm not sure I feel much sympathy for spouses (mostly women still) who, upon divorce, are cut out of the vast riches they're supposedly entitled by their "unfeeling" former significant others. In today's world, women--both heterosexual and homosexual--can no longer make a fair claim to being helpless and defenseless no matter whether they're leaving a "normal" middle-class relationship or a lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous relationship like this one. The fact that someone might not receive millions of dollars from the person who made 99.9% of the effort to earn those millions doesn't seem like much of an injustice to me. There's no doubt that lots of people need monetary help when leaving a marriage, especially when children are involved, but it's high time that we put this practice--of letting one spouse steal money from the other spouse who did the most to earn that money--in the place where it belongs: in the dustbin of history.

Just as the use of "marriage equality" should be encouraged over "same-sex marriage" to release us from the right's framing of the issue, the term "homophobic" could to be replaced in many instances with "heterocentric." Many who are not "phobic" about their gay friends are still heterocentric in their societal views of the "norm.".

That being said, if anyone wants to know what it is like to TRULY be discriminated against, you ought to experience what it is like to be a straight, caucasian male in this increasingly fucked up USA.

How many programs can you accurately and correctly name which are SELECTIVELY FOR one of us?

You sure as hell can name a list longer than a new roll of toiletpaper of programs for ALL others.

I have no qwualms concerning same gender couples who want to be together.

I don't CARE. tHEY ARE HUMAN BEINGS AS AM i.

However~~~~I pay, pay, pay and PAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!

Talk about getting sucked dry.

But relationships in which the wealthy party essentially bought the companionship of someone attractive don't elicit too much sympathy from me.

Thought the article was very interesting and if accurate I agree that it is shameful that Martina is not doing the right thing! If we want the right to get married, then we must also sign on to the responsibility of the divorce and all the rest when couples end relationships! We can't have it both ways!

She has long been someone I have admired not just as a great tennis player but for her courage as a gay role model, etc.

I would like to hear her side of the story and am somewhat confused that if they married in New Hampshire, wouldn't those laws apply despite living (I assume in Florida)?

I live in Canada where same-sex marriage has been legal for several years and am proud of this difference from the U.S./

Even though I can't ever imagine getting married - one must support those who are fighting for these and other rights everywhere!