re: #314 reine.de.tout

When you choose your friends, you have discriminated among people - you like person A for whatever reasons, you dislike person B for whatever reasons.

“Discrimination” happens.

I am being discriminated against. I have a pension from my government job. If my husband were to die, I would never see one cent of his social security. Not a penny, because there is a dollar for dollar offset on Social Security benefits if a person has a government pension, and my pension is just a tad larger than his SS benefit would be. So, … we are all “victims” of discrimination at some point or the other. Every one of us. You don’t have a special hold on being “discriminated against”. I know this, so I am taking steps to make sure I have additional income separate from his social security so that if he dies before I do, I will be OK.

Until civil unions or marriage is allowed for gay people, then you need to take whatever actions, draw up whatever contracts you need to do, to make sure you and your partner are as protected as it’s possible to be. Getting angry on a blog and hollering at people isn’t going to fix your situation. Nor mine.

I’m really trying not to holler, I’m trying to make the case. And my situation is about as fixed and shored up as I can make it. But there are brutal and heartbreaking and shocking stories out there (mostly involving children and health care) that are are very frightening to me, that I am not able to protect my current or hypothetical future family unit (for lack of a better word) against because of our status. Gay people have obtained durable power of attorney and drawn up contracts and done everything right they possibly can, and yet they can still be hosed when it comes to visitation, custody, etc. They’re just not as protected.

You’re cool, I like you, you’re thinking critically. I hope my feelings are coming through and that I’m not sounding like I’m speaking from a bad place.