AARP and other mainstream senior citizen advocacy organizations plan to lobby the Feds to recognize same-sex relationships in order to expand entitlement payments that are explicitly prohibited by DOMA (signed into law by Bill Clinton).
-- From "Medicaid and Social Security changes urged to help gay seniors" by Rex W. Huppke, Los Angeles Times 3/17/10
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender senior citizens face myriad social and financial problems, and lawmakers could help them by altering Social Security and Medicaid rules, according to a national report being released Wednesday.
The report, prepared by Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders, or SAGE, has been endorsed by major mainstream aging groups, including AARP and the American Society on Aging.
It calls on federal and state lawmakers to consider ways to legally recognize same-sex relationships so aging partners in a committed relationship can have access to the same support systems that benefit heterosexual seniors. That would include Social Security survivor benefits and the rights of same-sex partners to make medical decisions for each other.
Tom Nelson, chief operating officer of AARP, wrote the report's foreword and said Tuesday that his organization wanted to see the needs of LGBT seniors discussed -- and met.
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