DENIAL OF MARRIAGE RIGHTS MAY COST GAY AND LESBIAN SENIORS TENS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS

More than One in 10 Same-Sex Couples Include Someone Over 65 Years Old

WASHINGTON Same-sex couples face tremendous financial burdens in old age due to the denial of their right to marry, according to new research published today by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The greatest risks are to “widows” and “widowers” who are discriminated against in three significant ways as lifelong relationships are dismissed as not having been families under law.

Unlike married heterosexual couples, surviving gay, lesbian and bisexual partners are denied Social Security survivor benefits, heavily taxed on the inheritance of a partner’s retirement account and charged an estate tax even on homes they co-owned with their partners. As a result, this growing population of seniors may be at increased risk of losing their homes in old age.

“Same-sex couples pay the same taxes as heterosexual couples throughout their working lives,” said Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “Yet they are denied the same protections when they most need it in old age and when faced with the death of a family member. That’s taxation without compensation.”

The report, entitled “The Cost of Marriage Inequality to Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Seniors,” was authored by Lisa Bennett, director of HRC’s FamilyNet project (www.hrc.org/familynet) and Gary J. Gates, a demographer with The Urban Institute (www.urban.org). It is based on an analysis of Census 2000 data and federal laws affecting same-sex couples.

More than one in 10 same-sex couples include someone over 65 years old, and nearly one in four include someone over 55 years old, according to the report. The five counties with the greatest number of same-sex couples that include at least one senior: Los Angeles County, Calif.; Cook County, Ill., Kings County (Brooklyn), N.Y.; Broward County, Fla.; and Miami-Dade County, Fla.

Other findings of the HRC Foundation/Urban Institute report:

• Gay, lesbian and bisexual couples also are at risk when one of them enters a nursing home as one of them may be forced to give up their home so the other may become eligible for Medicaid benefits.

• The loss of Social Security survivor benefits amounts to an average loss of $5,528 each year.

• Surviving partners are routinely forced to pay tens of thousands of dollars in taxes when they inherit a retirement plan from an unmarried partner while married spouses in the same situation are charged no taxes at all.

• A surviving gay, lesbian or bisexual partner is charged an estate tax on the couple’s home even if the home had been jointly owned.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender political organization with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that GLBT Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.

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