Gay and lesbian couples face unfair financial discrimination
I don’t know about you but I am constantly reminded how important it is for all fair-minded US citizens to press forward in the battle for marriage equality. Today was no different. In one day, I saw three stories highlighting the obvious unfairness and inequality gay and lesbian singles and couples (and ‘widows’ of a gay or lesbian partner) face financially, because they can’t marry.
These real life reports reinforce perfectly my Suze Orman post from the other day, when she spoke out on the unfairness of denying anyone the financial benefits marriage provides…
- A fight may be brewing on the provision of benefits to the same sex partners of federal employees – In the news today is evidence of the ‘brewing’ focus on the issue of same sex partner benefits for federal goverment employees. The New York Times reports in an article this may be a time President Obama will be called on to act on his campaign promises to create a more just country for GLBT’s. The article describes the plight of two plantiffs, whose financial situations were deeply affected by the lack of benefits.
- In another example, the Advocate referred to photographer Annie Lebowitz as an example of the negative financial consequences gay and lesbian widows face, even after a partner’s death, due to the ‘gay tax’ penalty. According to Shannon Connolly of The Advocate: “Since the death of her partner, Susan Sontag, in 2004, Annie Leibovitz has been suffering the consequences of not having had the legal protections of a marriage. Much of Sontag’s property was left to the renowned portrait photographer who is now paying a large inheritance tax, called the “gay tax” . According to federal law, when one partner in a married couple passes away, the widowed partner does not have to pay taxes on the property they inherit. Leibovitz does not benefit from those protections since her partnership was not legally recognized. The Human Rights Campaign lists the more than 1,000 federal benefits enjoyed by married couples, many of which are health and money-related. Gay couples have, at best, state-level benefits depending on where they live.”
- Lastly, out today are the results of another study, by UCLA’s Williams Institute, challenging the stereotype that all gays and lesbians are more affluent than the general population. It just ain’t true (at least not across the board), according to the study, which revealed that lesbian couples are more likely to be poor than married heterosexuals, and children of same-sex parents are twice as likely to live in poverty as those of traditional married couples. I don’t think the fact that the average lesbian couple makes less than the average heterosexual couple would be such a big surprise. After all, in addition to all the married benefits lesbians don’t get, women still only make, what is it, 60-some cents to the dollar every man makes right? No surprise here. And, what about the fact that children of same-sex parents are more likely to live in poverty? That figure includes again lesbian couples and gay male couples. Seems to me somewhere I saw some information that gay men make less than straight men on average, right? And, they too most often do not get the additional benefits their heterosexual counterparts are ‘gifted’ merely because they are married, such as health insurance for both partners, social security, pension, ability to file as a couple on their taxes, no inheritance taxes, family medical leave, etc.
Sure ought to make you angry! So, what will YOU do today, to advance marriage equality??? Think about it, and, take action!
TGIF,
Barb Elgin
Tags: Benefits of Same Sex Marriage, gay marriage, gays and money, How same sex marriage benefits all, Marriage Equality, same sex marriage