Connect with us

The Benefits of Same Sex Marriage

Published

on

var addthis_config = {“data_track_addressbar”:true};

As one of four plaintiffs in a Federal Same Sex Marriage Lawsuit here in Louisiana, Robicheaux et al. v. Caldwell, and simply as a gay man, I am often asked why I want my marriage recognized by law. The benefits of marriage are plentiful, as any happily married person (or legal scholar) can tell you, but the literal benefits – shared insurance, healthcare access, tax credits – are also important.

I am a paramedic with a private ambulance service in New Orleans and have seven years experience behind me. Having great insurance is one of the many reasons that I work for my particular employer. In Louisiana, out-of-state same-sex marriages are not recognized, leaving companies to decide whether to offer insurance coverage to same-sex married employees. I see this as not only a burden on the employee, but also a burden on employers.

Those companies that decide to cover have to place strict guidelines, such as signing affidavits, pre- vs. post-tax coverage, etc., in order to cover their same-sex couples (married or non-married). Most companies, since they are not bound by state law to recognize these marriages and provide coverage, do not want to undertake this effort, perhaps understandably; it’s laborious, it’s time-consuming, and it adds an additional layer of costs to employers. Unfortunately for me and my husband, Jon, this is where my company currently falls.

derek penton and jon robicheauxJon is, by many standards, underemployed, and his company does not offer healthcare benefits. So when my husband was hospitalized for five days in September 2013, we racked up a huge hospital bill that (a) could not be covered by my insurance because he’s not an eligible spouse and (b) was not covered under his public healthcare plan. Because he is a part-time employee at a local company and has no insurance, when we went into the emergency room the night he was ill, the registration clerk signed him up for the public healthcare system. What we didn’t realize at the time is that if you are not over the age of 65, are not disabled, and are not a single parent; your healthcare is limited to just the public LSU hospital system. Being unaware of this, Jon was seen in the emergency room and admitted to a private hospital. Jon made a full recovery from his illness. We went home and back to our normal lives, and about a month later we start getting the bills we thought were covered. The first bill, which was for an ER visit only, was around $6500. Yes, you read that right. The second bill, for the five-day stay, was for $38,000.

It is upsetting that my perfectly good insurance could not be utilized by my legal husband, all because the state does not recognize my marriage, therefore not requiring my company, which does not have a plan in place for same-sex marriage or benefits, to cover him. How many couples should have to suffer inequalities such as this before something is going to be done?

Situations like this could be avoided in two ways: (1) If more companies would do the right thing and treat their employees’ same-sex spouses as they would treat any other legally marriage from another state; (2) If the state itself would honor same-sex marriages from out-of-state, requiring the coverage option.

Here in Louisiana, we are fighting in our lawsuit the latter of those, so that all legally married same-sex couples will have the same rights as any heterosexual marriage from another state. The next time you hear the age-old argument that, “Gay people have the same rights as straight people,” you can remind them of our struggle in Louisiana and ask them, “Would that scenario play out the same way if all our rights were equal?”

We hope you will join us in support of our cause. It is important to Jon and myself, it is important to our co-plaintiffs, Courtney and Nadine and their son, and it is important to countless other same-sex couples who are not recognized here. In my heart, the benefits of my marriage to Jon are immeasurable. In our bank account and in our healthcare, having the same legal options as our married straight friends would be a different kind of benefit – and a huge one.

You can follow the progress of our fight on our facebook page and on our website here.

LET’S MAKE 2014 ANOTHER BIG YEAR FOR EQUALITY!

 

Catch up on Derek’s previous posts on his lawsuit against the State of Louisiana:

Robicheaux vs. Caldwell – Why We Are Suing To Be Married In Louisiana
A Blanchard Family Christmas

 

derek penton Derek Penton, 35, is a native of Mississippi and a longtime resident of New Orleans.  He holds degrees in computer information systems and paramedicine.  After more than five years together, Penton and his husband, Jonathan Robicheaux, were legally married in Iowa on Sept. 23, 2012.

 

 

 

Nadine and Courtney Blanchard’s photo via Facebook

Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

‘Not Legal’: Trump May Dissolve Dept. of Education in Days, Democrat Warns

Published

on

The U.S. Department of Education may be “dissolved” in the coming days, U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) reportedly has said, claiming that Elon Musk’s DOGE team currently is “actively dismantling” Department of Education programs.

Congresswoman Stansbury “said Elon Musk’s DOGE team is ‘actively dismantling’ federal Department of Education programs today,” HuffPost White House and congressional reporter Jennifer Bendery wrote Tuesday afternoon.

“They are in the building, on the 6th floor, canceling grants and contracts,” Stansbury said.

“Stansbury says her understanding is the Trump admin ‘has been running drills for the last couple of weeks, planning for this,'” Bendery reports. “She also said she expects that ‘the Department of Education is going to potentially be dissolved in the coming days.’ And yes, this is illegal.”

READ MORE: ‘Serious Injuries to Public Health’: Judge Scorches Trump Removal of Health Websites

“It’s not legal. They know it’s not legal. But they’re doing it anyway,” Stansbury told Bendery. “The only recourse we have right now is to … go the courts.”

The U.S Department of Education was created in 1979 by an act of Congress and would legally require another race of Congress for it to be shut down.

Musk, according to The New York Times, has announced cuts at the Department of Education of more than $900 million.

“Most, if not all, of the contract cuts hit the Institute of Education Sciences’s portfolio, including Education Innovation and Research grants and review projects associated with the What Works Clearinghouse, which produces and curates research on best practices in education, according to three people familiar with the department’s contracting. The people requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal because they were not authorized to discuss the cuts,” the Times noted.

“Less than two weeks after the release of new federal testing data showing reading achievement at historic lows, the cuts were likely to hit research intended to answer questions about some of the biggest problems in American education since the Covid-19 pandemic, such as absenteeism and student behavioral challenges.”

Should Trump go through with attempting to eliminate the Department of Education by means not including Congress, it would be up to the federal courts to stop him. But Trump and his vice president, JD Vance, along with a growing number of their allies, appear to have convinced a number of his MAGA base that judges should not have the ability to block any actions the president takes. Judges, however, can, and do.

Last week, MSNBC reported that “Elon Musk says Department of Education no longer ‘exists’.”

Democrats on Tuesday hit back.

READ MORE: General Slams Pentagon’s ‘Racist’ Decision to Drop Key Black Engineers Recruitment Event

“The chaos and the corruption at the White House continues unabated,” U.S. Rep. Pete Aguilar said Tuesday (video below). “Elon Musk has illegal access to sensitive personal information of every taxpayer in America. He’s setting his sights on cutting Social Security benefits for American seniors who have earned their benefits over a lifetime of work, just so Tesla can continue to pay zero dollars in federal taxes.”

“And now Donald Trump has directed him to launch a Republican war on students by dismantling the Department of Education,” the California Democratic congressman continued. “President Trump and Elon Musk want to cut public education for our children and our neighborhood schools to finance a five trillion dollar tax giveaway to billionaires and wealthy corporations. By eliminating the Department of Education, Republicans are sending a clear message that they don’t care about our children reaching their full potential.”

“The American people did not vote for their neighborhood schools to be closed or class sizes to be larger. They did not vote to cut special education. The Republican war on students won’t lower the cost of eggs or groceries, but it will raise property taxes as the costs of Trump’s education cuts will be forced onto parents and homeowners,” Aguilar said.

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: The 27 Words the NSA Is Scrubbing From Its Websites: Report

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

‘Serious Injuries to Public Health’: Judge Scorches Trump Removal of Health Websites

Published

on

A federal judge has directed harsh criticism at the Trump administration for removing countless public health web pages and websites, ordering them restored by midnight, and suggesting their deletion may have risked violating federal law.

U.S. District Judge John Bates, a George W. Bush appointee, “ordered federal health agencies Tuesday to restore pages they removed from their websites last month to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order on ‘gender ideology and extremism,’ saying the decision to pull them down could be detrimental to public health,” Politico reported. The order extends to the CDC, HHS, and the FDA.

“In his opinion,” Politico added, “Bates said the agencies’ decisions to take down certain webpages ‘likely’ constitute an ‘order’ that’s reviewable under federal administrative law.”

The Trump administration’s claims that the removal was necessary to review their contents and amounted to mere “maintenance” were not arguments the judge appeared willing to accept. Judge Bates instead denounced the “widespread disruption that defendants’ abrupt removal of these critical healthcare materials has caused.”

READ MORE: General Slams Pentagon’s ‘Racist’ Decision to Drop Key Black Engineers Recruitment Event

Bates blasted the Trump administration, writing, “it bears emphasizing who ultimately bears the harm of defendants’ actions: everyday Americans, and most acutely, underprivileged Americans, seeking healthcare. These individuals rely on the care of doctors… If those doctors cannot provide these individuals the care they need (and deserve) within the scheduled and often limited time frame, there is a chance that some individuals will not receive treatment, including for severe, life-threatening conditions. The public thus has a strong interest in avoiding these serious injuries to the public health.”

In his opinion granting Doctors for America a temporary stay, Bates offered several examples of “irreparable harm” the government’s actions have already caused.

Doctors for America “has shown its members are already suffering such harm. To start, [one doctor] serves the students of ‘one of the most underserved high schools in Chicago.'”

READ MORE: The 27 Words the NSA Is Scrubbing From Its Websites: Report

“In this work, she ‘regularly’ relies on CDC’s resources on sexually transmitted diseases (‘STDs’)… The harm she has suffered since CDC removed those pages is neither hypothetical nor far off. The high school ‘recently had an outbreak of Chlamydia,’ and now that she is ‘[w]ithout t[he] crucial CDC resources,’ she is ‘not able to do [her] job to help address this urgent situation.'”

Bates also cited a statement from a leading physicians’ group, and wrote that “the lost materials are more than ‘academic references—they are vital for real-time clinical decision-making in hospitals, clinics and emergency departments across the country.'”

“Without them, health care providers and researchers are left ‘without up-to-date recommendations on managing infectious diseases, public health threats, essential preventive care and chronic conditions.'”

Politico reports Doctors for America had sued “the Office of Personnel Management, the CDC, the FDA and HHS last week, claiming the missing information ‘deprives’ doctors and researchers of ready access to data that’s critical to treating patients and addressing public health emergencies.”

READ MORE: ‘Stomach Turning’: Trump Defends His J6 Pardons as ‘Great for Humanity’

 

Image via Reuters

Continue Reading

News

General Slams Pentagon’s ‘Racist’ Decision to Drop Key Black Engineers Recruitment Event

Published

on

In 1976, during America’s bicentennial, President Gerald Ford became the first president to recognize February as Black History Month. Ten years later, after a joint resolution of Congress decreed it, President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation observing the event. Every president since Reagan has issued proclamations observing Black History Month.

President Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, has scrapped recognition of all “identity” events, including Black History Month, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, Women’s History Month, and National Disability Employment Awareness Month — declaring them all “Dead,” via a memo, according to USA Today.

“Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department’s warfighting mission,” Hegseth’s memo, titled, “Identity Months Dead at DoD,” reads. “Efforts to divide the force – to put one group ahead of another – erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution.”

Standing on a stage last week at a Pentagon town hall (video below), Secretary Hegseth elaborated.

“I think the single dumbest phrase in military history is ‘our diversity is our strength.’ I think our strength is our unity. Our strength is our shared purpose. Regardless of our background, regardless of how we grew up, regardless of our gender, regardless of our race, in this department, we will treat everyone equally. We will treat everyone with fairness. We will treat everyone with respect, and we will judge you as an individual by your merit and by your commitment to the team and the mission. That’s how it has been. That’s how it will be.”

READ MORE: The 27 Words the NSA Is Scrubbing From Its Websites: Report

Last week, Reuters noted that “Hegseth has criticized diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives in the military, and, in his latest book, asked whether the top U.S. general has the job because he is Black. Reuters has previously reported about the possibility of mass firing among top brass, something Hegseth repeatedly refused to rule out during his confirmation process.”

Journalist Errol Louis, who has degrees from Harvard, Yale, and Brooklyn Law, last week commented on Hegseth’s remarks: “In 5 years, most recruitable adults will be people of color. The military’s current recruitment crisis is likely to worsen under Hegseth.”

On Monday, Military.com reported that at least four of the five Military service branches — Army, Navy, Air Force, and Space Force — have pulled out of a top recruiting opportunity, “a prestigious Black engineering event,” and by doing so they are “turning down access to a key pool of highly qualified potential applicants amid President Donald Trump’s purge of diversity initiatives in the military.”

“Until this week, Army Recruiting Command had a long-standing public partnership with the Black Engineer of the Year Awards, or BEYA, an annual conference that draws students, academics and professionals in science, technology, engineering and math, also known as STEM,” Military.com reported. “The event, which takes place in Baltimore, has historically been a key venue for the Pentagon to recruit talent, including awarding Reserve Officers’ Training Corps scholarships and pitching military service to rising engineers. Past BEYA events have included the Army chief of staff and the defense secretary.”

Three years ago, DOD News, part of the U.S. Department of Defense, reported, “The Defense Department is likely the largest employer of engineers in the United States, and the department will need even more to continue to protect the nation, said Barbara McQuiston, who now performs the duties of the deputy undersecretary of defense for research and engineering.”

“The DOD has over 100,000 engineers, and they are incredibly important to us,” McQuiston also said, DOD News added. “You can imagine the range of capabilities and personnel that we have working on the hardest problems — from civil engineers and software engineers to material engineers and chemical engineers — just a whole range of engineers looking at some of the toughest problems for DOD. We couldn’t function without them. They touch everything that we do.”

READ MORE: ‘Stomach Turning’: Trump Defends His J6 Pardons as ‘Great for Humanity’

It appears some Army recruiters and officers are not pleased with the decision to pull out of the Black Engineer of the Year Awards conference.

“This is one of the most talent-dense events we do,” an unnamed Army recruiter told Military.com. “Our footprint there has always been significant. We need the talent.”

“It’s f—ing racist,” an unnamed active-duty Army general told Military.com. “For the Army now, it’s ‘Blacks need not apply’ and it breaks my heart.”

But the Pentagon’s involvement in some other recruiting events has not been scrapped.

“Last week, the same Army recruiting unit that would have attended BEYA instead participated in a National Rifle Association-sponsored event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, a predominantly white gathering that recruiters acknowledge is less likely to yield high-quality applicants,” Military.com noted.

Military.com spoke with five recruiters who “saw the move as a significant and problematic escalation in the Pentagon’s rejection of diversity initiatives, which have been widely interpreted as programs that recognize women and troops with minority backgrounds, as well as gay and lesbian troops.”

On Monday, Secretary Hegseth announced a “pause” for all medical treatments of transgender service members, and a pause on accepting any new transgender service members into the U.S. Military. During his first term, Trump tried to throw out every transgender service member, but his efforts were stymied in the courts.

Also on Monday, President Trump continued his efforts to entirely reshape the culture of America’s Armed Forces, starting at the very beginning of the pipeline.

“Our Service Academies have been infiltrated by Woke Leftist Ideologues over the last four years. I have ordered the immediate dismissal of the Board of Visitors for the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Coast Guard,” the Commander-in-Chief announced Monday afternoon. The Boards ensure accountability and civilian oversight at institutions like West Point. “We will have the strongest Military in History, and that begins by appointing new individuals to these Boards. We must make the Military Academies GREAT AGAIN!”

Watch the video below or at this link.

READ MORE: ‘People Are Really Angry’: Fury Over Musk and DOGE Triggers Spike in Calls to Congress

 

 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.