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Needs to Include All Families |
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By Winnie Stachelberg Political Director, Human Rights Campaign
One of the most obvious areas of inequity was the denial of Social Security survivor benefits to surviving partners and their children. This inequity can lead to a far less stable retirement for gay and lesbian couples. Consider this story: Tom and Jane have been married for forty years. Tom, a salesman, has paid into Social Security his entire career and retires at 65. Jane has always worked at home, raising their children and doing community service in their small town. They have lived their lives frugally yet their combined pension and savings are relatively small, considering that they paid for their children's college education. Sadly, a year after his retirement Tom passes away unexpectedly. Jane is devastated personally, yet not financially because of the safety net provided by the Social Security system. Jane is eligible to receive survivor benefits from Social Security and will be able to continue to pay her mortgage and not be forced into poverty. Now, consider if it were life partners Jane and JoAnne in the exact same situation. They too have been together for forty years and only had one breadwinner because they chose to raise children. And the death of JoAnne leaves Jane devastated, yet unlike the married widow, the stay at home partner cannot benefit from the Social Security system. Despite the fact that the working partner has paid into the system as much as Tom and Jane did, they cannot reap the same benefits. In addition to this financial strain, the living partner is also denied assistance with burial costs through a one-time payment. An opportunity to change the current exclusionary system was missed this week, when a panel appointed by the president to examine ways to reform Social Security made no mention of the inclusion of same-sex families. The omission in the draft report by the Presidential Commission to Strengthen Social Security left same-sex families out in the cold and vulnerable to nightmare scenarios like those that unfolded for many gay families following September 11. While the Commission did not address providing parity for gay and lesbian families, the Commission did put forth three options for reform, all of which included some form of voluntary private accounts. These proposals for the privatization of Social Security have both potential benefits and drawbacks for gay and lesbian Americans. While privatization may provide increased flexibility for gay and lesbian families to designate their own beneficiary, these plans offer only partial privatization. Therefore, the large majority of funds will still be placed in the traditional Social Security system with no option for providing retirement security for gay and lesbian families. There are also serious financing questions that will need to be answered before going forward with any privatization plan. Without changes in Social Security, gay and lesbian Americans are forced to pay generously into a system that does not protect their families. This taxation without representation means same-sex couples are using their hard-earned money to protect other peoples' families while leaving their own families potentially exposed to financial difficulty and ruin. This is particularly disturbing since divorced widows and widowers, who were married more than ten years, may receive survivor benefits, while gays and lesbians who lose lifelong partners are ineligible for benefits.
Fortunately, the public seems keenly aware of the need to cover all families. In a Kaiser Family Foundation poll released in November 2001, nearly 70 percent of all Americans support Social Security benefits for gay and lesbian families. The September 11 terrorist attacks clearly moved the issue from tangential to tangible, as the obstacles real Americans face came to light. While many people still have theoretical trouble with the concept of homosexuality, they can readily identify with an individual struggling to pay the mortgage, sending their children to school and putting food on the table after the tragic death of a loved one. The latest census made it clear that same-sex families live in virtually every county in America. The choice for our nation's leaders is to ignore the legitimate needs of these families or treat them with dignity and respect. Our government can take a page from corporate America where private retirement accounts, 401 (k) plans and pensions permit gay and lesbian couples to designate their partners as beneficiaries. If this can be successfully done in conservative corporate America, there is no reason why our government - which is supposed to represent all Americans - cannot expand social security benefits for same-sex couples. While the Commission did not address our families, the ultimate decision on updating and equitably expanding Social Security will be left up to Congress. They will decide whether to treat all their constituents fairly, or continue to protect certain families while discriminating against others. The Human Rights Campaign will continue to educate Congress and work to ensure all American families can have equal access to one of our nation's most successful safety net programs, Social Security. Winnie Stachelberg is the Political Director of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBT political organization. |
HRC Political Director Winnie Statchelberg 