Protecting Gay and Lesbian Families

Kerry for President website ^ | 2004 | Kerry for President

[stocksthatgoup]

John Kerry believes that same-sex couples should be granted rights, including access to pensions, health insurance, family medical leave, bereavement leave, hospital visitation, survivor benefits, and other basic legal protections that all families and children need. He has supported legislation to provide domestic partners of federal employees the benefits available to spouses of federal employees. He was one of 14 Senators -- and the only one up for reelection in 1996 -- to oppose the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

[stocksthatgoup]

Lifting the Ban on Gays in the Military
John Kerry opposed the Clinton Administration’s “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Policy” He was one of a few senators to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee and call on the President to rescind the ban on gay and lesbian service members.

[stocksthatgoup]

Support for Civil Unions
John Kerry supports same-sex civil unions so that gay couples can benefit from the health benefits, inheritance rights, or Social Security survivor benefits guaranteed for heterosexual couples.

[Just Lori]

John Kerry believes that same-sex couples should be granted rights, including access to pensions, health insurance, family medical leave, bereavement leave, hospital visitation, survivor benefits, and other basic legal protections that all families and children need. He has supported legislation to provide domestic partners of federal employees the benefits available to spouses of federal employees.

We're gonna need an entire new branch of government to deal with this! Guess who's going to pay for it. Certainly not John (the saint) Kerry. By the way, did you know he was a Vietnam Veteran? It's TRUE! He was there for FOUR MONTHS. Wow! My brother was there for two years. No purple hearts, no medals, no fanfare. No brother anymore, either. I'm supposed to be impressed by this sack of s**t?

[I still care]

I would really like to see some statistics on how much extra it would cost to extend those benefits to same-sex partners.

One of the few liberals I ever saw against the proposal worked in the insurance industry. He knew what it would do to rates for everyone else.

I think people need to have some clear ideas on what this would cost them. They are always complaining about health insurance rising, the more you cover, the more the rates rise. So how much would they rise?

If you went to the average Joe, and said, say you pay $400 a month for health insurance, but if we start covering same sex it would be $475 - well, he is entitled to know.

Remember also that many homosexuals have lot of risk factors in their lives that contribute to ill health, including increased rates of abuse, AIDS, etc.

[Betaille]

"Gay and Lesbian Families"
No such thing. Apparently Kerry has the broadest interpretation of the word "Family" I have ever seen.

[little jeremiah]

Homosexual Agenda Ping - From Kerry's website, just a few of his random thoughts about "Gay Families". Thought you'd all want to know.

If anyone wants on/off this pinglist, pingify me.

[thoughtomator]

Frankenfamilies

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Support for Civil Unions
John Kerry supports same-sex civil unions so that gay couples can benefit from the health benefits, inheritance rights, or Social Security survivor benefits guaranteed for heterosexual couples.

Back in 1980 my cousin invited me to lunch with a friend of hers in San Francisco. My cousin was then "in the closet" and came out as a lesbian about 10 years later. I had no idea of her orientation at the time. Nor did I particularly care. On the way to the restaurant where we to meet her friend, my cousin advised me that her friend was a lesbian so that I wouldn't be shocked if she commented on that status.

During the lunch I was stunned to hear this lesbian mention in passing her "husband'. I guess my jaw was rather slack - and the lesbian friend could see the confusion on my face. She explained that she, an employee of the City of San Francisco (with great health benefits) was married to a gay man, an employee of United Airlines (with great travel benefits). They met about once each six months to exchange any incidental paperwork. This marriage was a nominal "marriage" - and in the census records it was counted as a marriage between a man and a woman. [I have often wondered how many of these shams exist, particularly in the Bay area.]

I'll never forget the sense of overwhelming naiveté - I had never thought for one moment that people would mock marriage in such a way, to simply exchange employment benefits. Call me an innocent, I just assume that words have meaning and a concept like marriage has a commonly understood meaning - and that we all know what that meaning is. Since it has become apparent in the intervening years, and with a great vengeance in the past year that this is not the case - a Federal Constitutional Amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman is necessary. It will not stop the occasional abuse illustrated above, but it is the only effective way to stop the total debasement of the concept of marriage.

Oh and **** John Kerry and the horse he rode in on!

[upcountryhorseman]

It is inappropriate to call these dysfunctional constructs
"families". They don't last and they are harmful to young children. Only units formed by a man and a woman and their children can be called families.