Rep. Linda Sanchez will announce the introduction of a bill that would level the playing field for same-sex couples who lose major benefits under the Social Security system.
Rep. Linda Sanchez of California is expected to announce Sunday that she will be introducing legislation to equalize social security benefits for same-sex couples.
“I believe that this is a civil rights issue,” she told The Advocate, “and I’m committed to trying to extend equality and equal opportunity and I think this bill is one excellent way to do it.”
Sanchez will deliver the news at a rally at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center, which approached her about the issue along with the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and AIDS Community Action Foundation.
Sanchez said she was especially sympathetic to the plight of same-sex couples given the country’s bleak economic downturn
. “For heterosexual couples there are survivor benefits if something should happen to a spouse and death benefits. In a time like this, that can make a big difference for someone living on a fixed income,” she said. “Contrast that with same-sex married couples who do the same thing that heterosexual couples do, which is pay into the social security system, and if something should happen to one of the two, the other is completely ineligible for social security benefits.”
Same-sex couples are denied four types of social security benefits: Spousal Retirement Benefits when one spouse retires; Spousal/Dependents Disability Benefit under Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) when one spouse is disabled; Survivors Benefits, which allow a widow or widower to be eligible to claim their own Social Security benefit or an amount equal to the benefit to which their deceased spouse was eligible; and Death Benefit, which provides a modest benefit for burial expenses. The Williams Institute estimates that the inequity costs LGBT people $124 million every year.
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