While Congress fights over whether law-abiding LGBTQ citizens have the right to live and work without the fear of losing their jobs, their homes, etc. over their sexual orientation (which should be, last I checked, NO ONE'S BUSINESS but their own)-- in civilian and military life--, they still leave untouched the most blatant reminder that many people still think of us as less than human:
The Defense of Marriage Act. Thank you very much, Bill Clinton, you spineless would-be deflecter, you. Thank you for this cowardly pander to the most disgusting vermin who crawl the face of this earth: right-wing fundamentalist Christians, their fellow travelers and their enablers.
Would you like to know why DOMA has to go? Like, yesterday? Do you want to get some concrete data, the political made personal? Here's a couple of reasons why I continue fighting.
Marriage as a civil construct is rightfully regulated by government. And the civil construct of marriage has nothing to do with religion. Yet religious delusional beliefs get their grubby, slimy mitts all over LGBTQ life and control the public discourse AND control legislation, usually to PREVENT our lawful, Constitutionally-guaranteed equal access to institutions that could improve our general welfare. Say, marriage. Or just life. The right-wing fundies, I must remind you, want LGBTQ people DEAD. That's their (selective) reading of Leviticus and they're sticking to it (while ignoring other parts because, let's face it, they love their Red Lobster fried shrimp!).
At a conservative count, there are one thousand thirty-eight marriage rights and responsibilities enshrined in Federal (and Internal Revenue) code. States add more.
The cost for straight couples to get access to ALL of those rights and responsibilities? Minimal. Maybe $50 for a marriage license, and another $30 to $50 to get hitched at the Justice of the Peace.
The cost for gay and lesbian couples to get access to ANY of those rights and responsibilities? Well, trick question. Thanks to DOMA, we don't have ANY access to them.
The cost for CajunBoyLgb and PortugheeBoyLgb-- a legally-married gay couple in California-- to approximate a FEW of those rights and responsibilities by establishing a legal Living Trust in the state of California? $4,221.00.
That's right. Over four thousand dollars.
And we're hopeful that our wishes will be honored when the time comes. In emergencies, I fear that some yokel will deny our wishes because we won't have documentation on our persons, or we won't be able to call our lawyer. If our marriage were Federally-legal, there would be no question.
Sure, Obama has thrown us LGBTQ folk a bone with "guaranteed" hospital visitation rights. But how about this:
If I die before my husband, he gets NOT ONE PENNY of my Social Security. Why shouldn't he get it? If we were a straight married couple, even if we couldn't stand each other, even if we had just gotten married for the benefits, the Social Security would be available.
And then there are pitiful, sickening stories like this one. How many more stories like this will Americans of conscience let happen before they say "Enough is enough"?!
I've had enough. And that's why I fight. LGBTQ Kossacks-- why do YOU fight?