Children of Gay Parents Get Left Behind

Lisa Stewart is 33 years old and has terminal breast cancer. Inevitably, she has to grapple with a whole range of healthcare and end-of-life issues. Confronting death is an excruciatingly painful process for most terminally sick people, and particularly for those who are young.

Lisa's case has a special poignancy to it because she is a parent. When she dies, she will leave a five-year-old daughter along with her partner of 10 years. Yet while most families endure hardship and insecurity when an adult member is diagnosed with a terminal illness, only a small subsection experience the difficulties that Lisa's family has already had to confront. Lisa is a lesbian. Like their gay male counterparts, lesbian-headed households constitute a family-type that is largely unrecognized by current law and policy. Consequently, same-sex couple families are uniquely disadvantaged during times of extreme sickness and imminent death.

Take, for instance, the issue of health insurance. The fact that the North American system of health insurance is in crisis is a well-known fact -- over 40 million Americans currently lack health insurance. What is less well known is that gay men and lesbians are over-represented among the uninsured. People in committed same-sex relationships are often ineligible for the health benefits employers regularly extend to their employees' legally married spouses, because access to these benefits is contingent on civil marriage -- a right denied to gay and lesbian couples regardless of how long they have been together. Even when companies offer domestic partner benefits to same-sex partners of gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals, these are usually taxed as income by the federal government, whereas spousal benefits are not -- an inequity that causes economic hardship to many gay and lesbian-headed families.

The non-recognition of gay and lesbian relationships, and the disadvantage this fosters, are especially problematic given the economic insecurity prevalent in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Contrary to the dominant myth, gay men and lesbians are actually less affluent than the general population. Based on Census and General Social Survey Data, economist Lee Badgett shows that gay men earn on average 17 to 28% less than their heterosexual counterparts. Although lesbians earn the same as heterosexual women, lesbian couples earn less than heterosexual couples because women on average earn less than men. Facing major fiscal constraints, few can afford domestic partner benefits that increase their taxable income, while large numbers remain without the means to buy health insurance independently.

Lisa Stewart joined the ranks of the uninsured when her illness forced her into unemployment. Her partner Lynn, who works in the South Carolina public school system, was unable to add Lisa to her health insurance policy. The South Carolina public school system does not recognize lesbian and gay couples as family, or offer domestic partner benefits. Seeking health insurance to cover her enormous chemotherapy bills, Lisa applied to the State Cancer Aid program.

Yet while the South Carolina public school system refused her health coverage because she was not married to her partner, the State Cancer Aid program counted Lynn's salary and assets as household income -- and denied Lisa coverage on the basis of excessive resources. Lisa's only recourse was to establish a household separate from her partner's in order to qualify for state aid.

Since current law and policy fail to recognize same-sex partners as family members, Lynn is also unable to take leave from work to care for Lisa under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Much heralded by liberals, FMLA was passed in 1993 and applies to people working in companies with over 50 employees, and who have clocked 1,250 hours of work in the previous 12-month period. It provides up to 12 weeks of unpaid aid to care for immediate family members who are sick, as well as after the birth or adoption of a child. The legislation applies, however, to the "husband or wife as defined or recognized under State law for purposes of marriage in the State where the employee resides, including common law marriage in states where it is recognized." As it stands, then, FMLA prevents same-sex partners from taking time off to care for each other.