I'd like to start this entry with these simple words:
I do not support gay marriage, gay rights, or really very much anything with the given prefix gay-.
I do not gay grocery shop on Saturdays, I do not gay park my car every morning, and I sure as hell don't gay ride BART.
I support rights, marriage, and of course the pursuit of happiness. The gay community isn't a whole other separate species. People = People. I don't know why this is such a complicated issue for those silly right-wing officials..
Two Dem. legislators decided to introduce a bill ensuring America's LGBT community coverage by COBRA insurance benefits company if a same-sex counterpart also get's hired.
Last week NY's State Rep, A. Weiner presented the House with the Equal Access to COBRA Act. While Weiner pursuaded the House, Senator Boxer gave a presentation to the Senate. Can you say double-team, double-whammy? Boxer announced that she believes that every family in America deserves to have equal opportunity and access to health insurance coverage.
Damn right they do. Damn right we do. This is an issue of basic equality. Insurance availability on the basis of sexual orientation is the same as not offering tax return services for families with one car. What difference could that insignificant detail possible make? In '95 Pres. Reagan signed the original COBRA (Consolidates Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) modeling a coverage plan allowing workers to hold onto medical insurance after being out of work. The act did not say "Oh, but if you're gay we'll have to get back to you." EQUAL PROTECTION UNDER THE LAW, PEOPLE.
The Equal Access to COBRA Act will secure health coverage for domestic partners and immediate family if their partner were to get laid off.
HRC's Joe Solmonese was immediately on board upon the birth of this recent legislation. Solmonese agrees that "safety-net coverage" like COBRA is definitely vital to American families in this time of economic and social struggle. LGBT people.. or I mean...Americans should all have equal opportunity and access to these fundamental plans of medical insurance benefits. Even more so for loved ones during a time the United States is so vulnerable. The new legislature will impact those who work for companies required to offer benefits.
Simple, simple services that we, as American citizens, have the right to get our hands on. I speak from every community of sexual orientation, identities, and so on. It doesn't matter what your race, or ethnicity is. In fact, it shouldn't matter whether you're in a wheelchair or a 65-year-old woman. It also shouldn't matter who you sleep next to at night. I think that if being gay is some kind of new handicap or illness, I'll just have to make a call tomorrow then..
"Hi, I can't come in today. Still gay. Whenever I get better I'll be sure to give you a call.."
May this be another step forward not just for the LGBT community. This is another step for the entire country itself. Equality is a special word: a symbolic expression of the fact that two quantities are equal; an equation. It doesn't mean that the gay community gets granted a few convenient originally straight rights. It doesn't mean that the LGBT community is finally allowed to get married "like everyone else." No, it means that we are taking steps toward making sure both sides of the equation are equal:
ONE PERSON = ONE PERSON
Can you tell which one is gay? It shouldn't matter. 1 = 1, always. It doesn't matter who wrote it down.
Until the next injustice..
-J
