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Elderly Advocates Raise Concerns about the Rights of Older Gay Couples
By Jennifer Peter, Associated Press
January 29, 2004
If Lois Johnson were married to a man, she would be financially protected if poor health forced him into a nursing home. The state could not force her to sell their shared home. She would not be forced to spend down their shared bank account to pay for his care.
But because Johnson is a lesbian who has been barred from marriage, elderly advocates say, the state would offer none of the same protections to Claire Barden, her partner of 40 years.
"I worry about what's going to happen if one of us goes to a nursing home," Johnson said at a Statehouse press conference Thursday. "What is going to happen to the person left at home? Will they have to sell their home? Will the house be taken by the state? I feel it's very unfair."
Advocates for the elderly launched a new front in the campaign for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts Thursday, highlighting an often overlooked segment of the gay population that is swiftly growing and facing many critical life decisions.
They asked lawmakers to oppose a constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and woman. That amendment would overturn a November high court decision that ruled it unconstitutional to bar gay couples from marriage.
"Denying marriage rights to same-sex couples can leave them in financial ruin," said Amy Hunt, director of the LGBT Aging Project of Massachusetts. "Going backward on marriage rights will hurt all couples, but it will particularly hurt our elderly. The cost of marriage discrimination rises as we get older."
Opponents of gay marriage argue that couples can enter into legal arrangements that will protect their rights in the case of illness or death without undermining a fundamental societal institution.
"In the final analysis, marriage is about more than benefits," said Ray McNulty, spokesman for the Coalition for Marriage. "Advocates of same-sex marriage often make appeals for special privileges based upon alleged hardships that homosexuals face in protect their financial and legal interests. What is often overlooked is that homosexual couples ... can already protect those interests through private contractual relationships."
Hunt said, however, that these legal agreements can be challenged in court and require couples to go through a complex and expensive legal process that should not be necessary.
According to figures the Human Rights Campaign plans to release in full next week, one in five gay couples in Massachusetts is made up of at least one person who is 55 years or older.
Under state law, according to advocates for the elderly, the spouse of someone entering a nursing home is protected from the loss of their home, which could otherwise be seen by the state as an asset to pay for care.
In the case of married couples, the state also sets aside how much the spouse still at home will need to live when determining how much money to request for nursing home care.
Both of these protections are denied same-sex couples, the Human Rights Campaign said.
Also, while a widower can inherit joint property tax-free, a gay person cannot do the same when a partner dies, according to Marta Frank, executive director of Boston Senior Home Care.
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