The ultimate betrayal by an employer is to refuse to pay out survivor benefits to a spouse. Bayer is doing that even as we speak.This is the reason marriage equality is so important to the gay community. For more years than I can count, gay partners have been denied access to their loved ones in hospital rooms, court testimony, adoption agencies and even funeral homes. Personal decisions regarding end of life choices have been abrogated by family members who have despised and shunned those same people for years. Homes have been lost and personal belongings have been confiscated, simply because the gay partnerships have not been recognized. Now Bayer wants to ignore a legal marriage and the subsequent benefits that come with that contract and deny survivor benefits to the remaining spouse. They are going to court and I sincerely hope that they are taken to the cleaners for this violation.
Marriage is a legal contract, a civil recognition of a legally binding unit of society. This has nothing to do with religious activity; as much as the Conservatives and Fundamentalists would like for you to believe. Marriage equality is a legal right to the same rights that heterosexual couples have enjoyed in this country since the first settlers arrived on our shores. This means that you have the right to jointly own property, enter into binding joint contracts, make joint estate plans, have or adopt children, have joint parental rights, be conservators of estates or be arbitrators of end of life decisions, all as equal partners. And yes, be considered the survivor of such a legal contact.
For Bayer to disregard the DOMA decision, especially when the Military has considered and embraced this ruling is totally wrong. This country needs to stand on the right side of history in providing equal rights for all its citizens. For almost 400 years there have been no rights for gay couples; it is time to change that.
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| image credit Gay Star News |
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