Checking the Married Box (gay marriage ? Kinda)

Factual Questions
1

Is marking yourself as married on a form when you are not illegal?

That is my basic question. Here is some background on why I am asking this question. I am a gay man who has "married" his partner. I put married in quotes, because legally in the state of California I am not considered to be married. In modern life, I seem to have to fill out forms that ask whether I am married as part of many other questions quite frequently. Most of the time I check married, the only times I don't is when checking married would change the circumstances of the service I receive. Examples for that would be insurance, and taxes. An example where I have checked married are on credit card applications, and rent applications .

Is it illegal for me  to check that little married box, if it does not change the service I receive? Is it immoral, since by strict legal definition, (thanks to the Knight initiative here in CA,) I am not married?

Just a questions asked out of curiosity really, thanks in advance for any responses.


Jeeves
2

I think a lot of those credit card forms and a lot of other forms ask you things like are you married and what’s your race more for statistical and demographic data than anything. I wouldn’t imagine there be a law against it.

3

Is there a reason you just don’t answer in the legal sense of the word? I mean, you can TELL people in person that you’re married, and they’ll understand (well, most people). But on an application, and according to the law, you’re not legally married. So it’s a question of honesty versus impressing absolutely nobody at all (the computer or employee at the credit card company won’t give a hoot if you’re in a gay marriage or not).

OTOH, if you should ever run into financial trouble, you could be held accountable (I imagine) for lying on a form where there usually is something near the signature that states you were honest on the form.