Apr 08 2010
Gay Seniors Lose Out on Social Security
According to a recently released report prepared by an LGBT advocacy group and endorsed by major aging groups, including AARP and the American Society on Aging, Gay senior citizens face a multitude of social and financial problems. However the group Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders, or SAGE, says the the greatest hurdle may be the inequity of Social Security. Marriage is an economic institution as well as a religious one and thanks to the federal Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA, regardless of their payments into the Social Security system, LGBT seniors in long-standing relationships, including those legally married in their state, cannot receive any of the survivor benefits to which their heterosexual peers are automatically entitled. The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force are staging a march and rally dubbed ROCK FOR EQUALITY, to call attention to this economic discrimination. The bi-coastal event will be held in Los Angeles this Sunday and in Washington, D.C. on April 18th. Joining us in studio is one of the events Senor Advocates, Alice Herman, age 74, who last year lost her partner of 45 years, as well as most of the income they shared.
GUESTS: Alice Herman, and guest co-host Steve Pride of IMRU and Uprising intern.
Read the SAGE Report here: http://sageusa.org/resources/resource_view.cfm?resource=183
Find out more at www.rockforequality.org.
The Rock for Equality event will be this Sunday, April 11, 2010 at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center, 1625 N. Schrader Blvd., Los Angeles, CA.
There will be an opening Rally: 10:00 a.m. with special guest, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer. Followed by: One-mile march to Social Security building on 1122 Vine St., Los Angeles, CA 90038 for protest demonstration and rock-in.
The march is expected to begin at approximately 10:45 a.m., and the demonstration will occur from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., including a brief speaking program.
One Response to “Gay Seniors Lose Out on Social Security”
No private insurance company would be able to deny someone from naming a beneficiary. Why should a “Suzy Homemaker” who sat on her sass while her kids were in public school get more than a minority woman who slaved away in a nursing home her entire life because a high-wage earning spouse was not available? Or how about the millions of gays who paid in their entire lives? I propose that the spousal benefit be enliminated BUT grandfathered for those above a certain age and which would INCLUDE gay partners.