I'm smiling so much today. We got health care reform passed. As watered-down as the bill may be and as much still has to be done, we got it PASSED. Decades and decades of history suggests that we would not be able to accomplish any health care bill whatsoever. We fucking did it. It is indeed celebration time no matter where you stood on the contents of the bill and I am happy to be American and proud of my President and (some of) my Congress.
Even better, from the standpoint of a minority citizen, is the fact that a woman Speaker of the House and a black President succeeded where many old white men have failed. The only other person to help advance a health care bill since Ted Kennedy was Hillary Clinton.
And now, in the midst of my celebration of our success, I read the news that Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) says the votes appear to be there for ENDA and for repeal of DADT.
I have been disappointed that all of the pro-GLBT provisions were removed from the health care reform bill. I am also disappointed that women had to sacrifice themselves for this bill, and I think both of our groups deserve rewards for this. GLBT people got the shaft early on in the process too.
I'm not going to play the "who has it worse" game but I do want to talk about something important. I read an offhand comment yesterday that really irked me. This guy was explaining his new charity idea to buy Rush Limbaugh a ticket to Costa Rica and if Limbaugh refuses the ticket, he'll donate the money to a charity Limbaugh hates. He said that he first considered a gay charity but he doesn't think that really affects health care.
Now, he meant well when he said that. He was just uninformed. That's partly our fault because our messaging really sucks on many issues these days. It's fucking awful. We never explained what we wanted out of health care and we never tied any of our GLBT bills into health care reform - and we should have, from the beginning.
Let's look at Don't Ask, Don't Tell first because it's the easiest to explain. Soldiers get access to health care. When you're kicked out of the military, that goes away. Expanding things like Tricare without repealing DADT means that once again GLBT Americans will be able to partake in this historic bill... in part. Not fully, like other Americans. If we get kicked out of the military, we don't get benefits nor does our family.
With ENDA... I've explained this before in a comment: I'm disabled and currently I am on SSI. With all the health problems I had I haven't had a job in awhile. How that works with SSI though, is they take away your SSI based on what you make at work but it's not proportional, so I could make a certain amount at work but they'll take away MORE from my SSI, leaving me unable to pay bills.
Basically to get a job, I'd have to overcome many obstacles: first I'd have to get an interview despite being disabled. They can't discriminate but they don't have to interview everyone.
If I got one, I'd have to get the job. They come up with new and different ways to deny me jobs. I've been to job fairs where "everyone gets a call back" but I didn't, so when I went back and asked them, they said "Oh we didn't call EVERYONE back! We got a lot of people!" Stuff like that is typical.
Also, I'm gay and there is no ENDA law in my state. With no ENDA law at the federal level either, I could overcome all of that, get a job, do my job, get paid enough to OFFSET my SSI money (which would be the only way I could accept a job) and still be fired for gayness.
How the FUCK is that fair? Please tell me. Why should it be more difficult for me to enjoy the full range of benefits from this health care reform because I am gay? Why should G, L, B or T people have to suffer this way just because that's who they are? This is the damn United States of America in 2010. What the fuck are we doing? Could someone fill me in?
The Defense of Marriage Act... I know what you're thinking. This seems tangential on its face. Far-fetched or whatever. Well, it is simply that partner benefits are not federally recognized.It would expand some of the health related benefits for married couples. I'm thinking it would help expand coverage to those who have trouble getting it elsewhere. Straight married couples have more options on health care. Another thing would be to eliminate companies from determining who is a "spouse."
This is an automatic stigma that we are feeling after passage of this historic bill. And it's only because some people are bigots. Why are we being punished because some other people are bigots?
Every single one of these pieces of legislation will directly enhance this historic health care bill that has just passed. Baldwin says we have the damn votes for two of them. Let's do this! Let's make GLBT citizens even more equal, starting now! I'm not giving up this fight.