When is something that isn’t news turned into news? When it can be used to advance the liberal agenda. The Associated Press runs a breathless story that, for the first time ever (!), a congressional “spouse” has been denied a death benefit. Of course, the “spouse” is the male companion of the recently deceased former Congressman Gerry Studds of Massachusetts. Studds and Dean Hara were “married” in 2004 as a gay couple.
Obviously Hara cannot receive a spousal death benefit because he is not the spouse of Studds. Only in the bizarro world of Massachusetts were they considered legally married and Hara knows it. Every gay and lesbian couple who applies for and receives a marriage certificate in Massachusetts knows that it isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on outside of the state.
So for Hara, and the Associated Press, to act “shocked… shocked!” that he would be denied spousal death benefits is insulting to the rest of us. And the taxpayers save the annual $114,000 of Studds’ pension.
[Thanks to Kelly Clark for the link.]Technorati Tags:Massachusetts, politics, same-sex marriage, Studds
There’s a stunning moocher’s loophole in many of these gay marriage/domestic partnership benefits. Under Colorado’s proposed Amendment i, an 18-year-old might ender into a partnership with his dying great-uncle retired from long public service and receive a lifetime pension at taxpayer’s expense. I’ve outlined the specifics here.
“could an 18-year-old female enter into a partnership or a marriage with her dying great-uncle retired from long public service and receive a lifetime pension at taxpayer’s expense?”
Partnership no, which are only same-sex. Marriage possibly yes, though they might be too close in affinity. The point is that since partnerships “aren’t really marriage” there is less stigma against cynical partnerships of convenience for financial benefit.
Sorry for using Dom’s blog for this, please use the comments on my own blog if you wish to continue.