American Matrix

A sad, sinking feeling has enveloped me this morning.

How can we maintain the role of the vigilant citizen – making sure our Republic is functioning properly – when it has been hijacked by a band of wing-nuts headed by a playground bully?

Is there anything left to fight for?

I feel like I am living in the film The Matrix where a phony universe has been created expressly for the purpose of distracting us from the realization that our true selves are imprisoned, bound and gagged.

To create this pretend world, the wing-nut prevaricator machine has a top-ten list of oft-repeated lies:

1. America is a free and prosperous nation;
2. the economy is strong;
3. we do not need BIG GOVERNMENT to build and maintain our infrastructure, deal with natural disasters, tackle health care, education, and environmental issues, etc., because private industry can do it better with more efficiency;
4. gays, environmentalists, anti-war protesters and liberals are dangerous, unpatriotic and do not support our troops;
5. the terrorists despise us because we have freedom and wealth;
6. they hate is so much that they flew planes into buildings and are always and relentlessly looking for new ways to punish us;
7. we invaded Iraq to rid the world of a cruel dictator who was threatening America with weapons of mass destruction;
8. we must stay in Iraq until it becomes a stable democracy and a beacon of hope to other Nations who will be unable to resist the lure of freedom;
9. the surge is working;
10. we cannot leave because Iraq will collapse, millions will die and the terrorists win.

Although none of the above is true, millions of people believe it!

WHY?

Because those with access to the megaphone of truth – primarily the media and our ‘elected’ officials -- must be getting something out of it.

Never mind that the ship is sinking, there is power to be grabbed and money to be made!

Evidence that America is lost – perhaps forever – is found in recent news headlines:

• MoveOn Ad Moves Congress to Vote for Nothing
  

• Senate Fails to Restore Habeas Corpus
  

• Sally Field Speech Censored

• Maryland Denies Marriage Rights to Same-Sex Partners

• Iraqi Man Prevented From Wearing T-Shirt on Plane
  

• Couple Arrested for Wearing Anti-Bush T-Shirts
  

• More Than 190 War Protesters Arrested in DC
  

• Student Tasered During John Kerry Speech
  

• Despite Democrat Majority, Bush Gets Everything He Wants: War Will Not End
  

• Cindy Sheehan Arrested While Pleading With John Conyers To Initiate Impeachment
  

How can we be fighting to promote freedom elsewhere when we don't even have it here at home?

Even comedian George Carlin can't make it funny:

Still Dreaming...

In 1963, at a rally following a civil rights march on Washington DC, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous "I Have a Dream" speech. The organizer of that 1963 rally was Bayard Rustin, a gay man and friend of MLK.

Yesterday, in Jena Louisiana, LGBTQ leaders again joined with the Black Community to stand against racial inequality, hatred and oppression. We wholeheartedly support that action and oppose race-based discrimination of any kind.

Although many Black leaders refuse to stand up for our rights for what they claim are religious and moral reasons, we know that those who oppress Blacks use the same reasoning to justify oppressing and discriminating against the LGBTQ Community.

All discrimination is based on fear of the unknown. That fear is easily manipulated by those who stand to gain power and money from exploiting "difference" and encouraging hatred.

Even though some Blacks, some Hispanics, some Muslims and some Jews feel obligated to climb on to the homophobic bandwagon and join the gay-bashing bunch, we understand that they do so out of ignorance.

Nevertheless, we will continue to oppose inequality and injustice wherever we see it because, as a very wise man once said, "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Thus, like King, we long for a world where all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion or sexual orientation, are treated as whole and equal human beings. That day will come only when people realize we are not all that different from one another.

Next month, on October 11, we will celebrate National Coming Out Day.

This day is our opportunity to introduce our true selves to our friends, co-workers and family. By coming out and being proud of who we are and who we love, our lives become irrefutable evidence that hate-mongers are lying about our community and our agenda.

Out in the open -- in the light of day -- they will be outed as bigots as more and more people see that we pose no threat, no harm to anyone.

And remember, even though it may feel as though we are not supported by Civil Rights leaders, that too, is a lie since many prominent Blacks have had the courage to speak out for our rights.

Just as we speak out for theirs.

Your Gay Life

The RAINBOWbLAWg is "taking off" and our posts are being picked up and published as articles on news sites like Op-Ed News and One Thousand Reasons.

One editor suggested we continue to write articles with an LGBTQ focus and of course we are happy to oblige!

Our aim is to inform and educate about issues in such a way that is not always reflected in the mainstream media and by other bloggers.

And, since nothing is more powerful than a true-life story, we want to weave real stories about real people into our articles.

With that in mind, we hope some of you are willing to share stories (yours or others that you are aware of) of unequal treatment and/or other situations that reflect your lack of access to laws and protections for you and your loved ones.

Perhaps you were discriminated at work, by your family, your neighbors or something else. If you have children, maybe they were teased or hurt in some way?

Have you lost custody or visitation? Were you denied housing?

Were you kept out of your partner's hospital room? Did you lose property in a "divorce" or after a partner died?

We think your story is vitally important to the struggle for equality and we will be happy to include it in order to illustrate the points we are trying to make about how LGBTQ people are negatively impacted in our daily lives.

If you have a story you want to share with us, please let us know.

If you prefer to remain anonymous, we will absolutely respect your privacy and will not identify you in any way.

Thanks for your help!

Carrie & Elisia

Sanity: Gone With the Wind-Bag

Driving home from a visit with my grandchildren yesterday, I unfortunately heard a minute or two of the Sean Hannity show. Actually, I'll refer to him here as Sean InSanity since that name is more descriptive of his personality.

So, as I was looking for a good oldies station, I heard InSanity blathering on about Hillary Clinton’s health care plan -- and it was clear that he did not approve.

He asked his listeners if any of them could show him where -- in the U.S. Constitution -- does it say American’s have a right to free health care?

In reality, the Constitution is not a document where you can find a list of citizen rights. But I’ll bet InSanity knows this – which is why he knows his question is a safe bet.

The Constitution is a document whose purpose is to guide the federal government as to the proper way in which to govern American citizens:

The body of the Constitution tells the federal government what it is allowed to do, and in some places it explains how to do it (election procedures and such). The Bill of Rights tells the federal government what it is not allowed to do . . .

1. Make no law abridging freedom of speech, press, religion, or assembly,
2. Do not infringe on the right to keep and bear arms.
3. Don't quarter soldiers in peacetime.
4. Don't conduct unreasonable searches and seizures.
5. Don't commit double jeopardy or force people to testify against themselves.
6. Don't deny an accused a speedy trial.
7. Don't deny an accused a trial by jury.
8. Do not impose excessive bail.
9. Just because certain rights of the people aren't mentioned in this Constitution doesn't mean you're allowed to usurp them.
10. Don't exercise any power not authorized in this Constitution.

So Sean, the Constitution does not say that I have a right to free health care. It does however say that Congress – with only a few exceptions – should not restrict rights – even if those rights are not specifically listed in the body of the document.

Where in the Constitution do you find the right to marry? Although the word “marriage” is not mentioned at any point, the Constitution does direct the government to treat all citizens equally. Thus any law that provides benefits to one citizen must be available to all.

And since the government has attached certain rights and benefits to marriage – i.e. linking tax benefits and eligibility to certain government programs to marital status, that status cannot legitimately be denied to any citizen – even if they are gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgendered, transsexual or just plain queer.

If tomorrow the government decided it would rather get out of the business of linking marital status to government benefits and programs (just so it won’t have to recognize my marriage), I’ll bet Sean InSanity would be the first to throw a great big hissy-fit when he realized his marriage no longer held a special status.

And while we are in the subject of what the Constitution does and does not say, one thing we can actually read – in black and white – is the guarantee to citizens and non-citizens – of the right to habeas corpus.

Yet, Sean continually defends the Bush administration’s denial of this right to “enemy combatants” -- some of whom are citizens.

Where in the Constitution do you find the basis for an Income Tax? I dare Sean InSanity – who would scoff at the notion that we are all taxed illegally – to show me -- in the Constitution or anywhere in the law – where it is written that the government has the right to tax my income?

In his tirade about Clinton’s health care plan, InSanity extolled the virtues of small government, the Reagan and Bush tax cuts and capitalism in general. He falsely (and not for the first time) claimed the Regan tax cuts doubled revenue – which is a bold-faced lie.

InSanity confuses capitalism – an economic system – with democracy – a governing system. In the brief time that I listened, he defended the Pharmaceutical Industry, Exxon Mobile and the over-all oil industry.

What I came to realize as I listened to his extreme right-wing rhetoric is that America is doomed if the Sean InSanity’s, Michael Savage’s, Rush Limbaugh’s and their ilk still hold sway over a large segment of the population who get most of their information from these over-blown, devious and dangerous wind-bags.

When Bad Things Happen to Gay People

Have you ever seen the HBO movie If These Walls Could Talk, 2? Even though it was filmed in 2000, it is as timely as ever.

The film follows three lesbian stories in three different time periods and is set in the same house.

In the first story, the home is occupied by an elderly couple played by Vanessa Redgrave (Edith), and Marian Seldes as her life-partner (Abby). The film makes it obvious that these two have lived together in the house for most of their adult lives. Yet, when Abby becomes ill, Edith is denied the right to visit her in the hospital. And worse, after Abby dies, Edith loses her home and everything in it to a distant relative who inherits the house and contents -- by law.

Although the segment was set in 1961 - except for rare exceptions like California, Massachusetts and Vermont – state and federal laws have NOT changed. Gay and lesbian partners are STILL at risk of losing our property today.

Do you and/or your partner own your own home? Are both of your names on the deed? Do you have “rights of survivorship” so that when one of you dies the other will still own the house?

Do you have a Living Revocable Trust or Last Will and Testament that names your partner to inherit your property when you die?

Have you signed a Living Will and Medical Power of Attorney that gives your partner the right to make medical decisions for you and visit you in the hospital?

Just like the movie, for most of us, when our partner dies without a Will or Trust, our property will pass – by law -- to our nearest living relatives and not to our partner who is considered – by law – as a stranger!

That means, no matter how long we’ve been together – no matter how many ups and downs we’ve shared – our partner will have NO right to inherit anything we own.

In order to protect our partner, we need to put our wishes in writing. It’s easier and far less expensive than you might imagine:

Rainbow Law creates free and affordable legal document packages for single people and partners, with or without children. In addition, there are do-it-yourself software programs and other (non-gay) legal document preparation websites. And, some attorneys will work on a sliding scale.

Because we are denied equal marriage rights, as we grow older – and trust me, unless you die young, you are going to get old -- LGBTQ couples face a much greater risk of spending the end of our lives in poverty:

“Gay, lesbian and bisexual seniors also are at significant risk of losing their home when an elderly partner enters a nursing home. This is because federal Medicaid law permits a married spouse to remain in the couple's home when a husband or wife enters a nursing home — but it does not grant unmarried couples the same right.“

If a gay or lesbian partner is forced to use Medicaid – the state often places a lien on the home in order to recoup their losses. In fact, the Federal government encourages such liens – at the same time that they deny us the protections of legal marriage.

Even when we own our home jointly with rights of survivorship, a state has the right to place a lien on the one-half interest belonging to the partner who required nursing home assistance in the first place.

You can do more to protect your home from a Medicaid lien by sheltering it in an Irrevocable Trust. This may seem a bit complicated but it definitely beats homelessness!

When you put your home into an Irrevocable Trust, you are still able to live in it and benefit from it just as you do now. And time is “of the essence” if you want to use this method of home protection.

Medicaid has a “look back” period of 5 years. This means you must place your home into the Trust 5 years before applying for Medicaid or entering a nursing home!

Sadly, even when we obtain all of the legal documents necessary to protect our partner’s rights, other obstacles continue to adversely impact our lives:

• Laws such as the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and Amendments to State Constitutions ban equal access to federal and state marriage rights and protections;

• And we remain ineligible for a host of state and federal protections like Social Security survivor benefits and estate tax exemptions.
  

• Even couples who have lived together for decades are often barred from sharing a room in a nursing home or an assisted living facility because there are no protections form discrimination based on sexual orientation.
  

We have seen breathtaking changes in our lifetime but clearly, it is not enough. It is one thing to kvetch about marriage equality. It is quite another to take the steps necessary to protect one another while we wait for lawmakers to stop catering to the wing-nuts.

Since protecting your partner is your greatest responsibility, will you take a few minutes to do it today?