News
Gay Seniors Lose Out on Social Security
Thursday, April 08, 2010
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.