Promoted by Steven D.
My brother is about to lose his job: his company has been eaten by a bigger company.
After working for that company for 15 years (50, 60, 70 hours a week, no overtime, because he’s considered management) my brother is redundant, they’re going to pile his job onto that of the guy in the bigger company doing something similar.
At 54 years old, My brother will have no health insurance. Although he and his partner Larry have been in a committed, monogamous relationship for 34 years, Larry can’t put Bill on his health insurance.
I’m 58, and I can tell you frankly, no insurance company wants, willingly takes on someone in their 50s. My brother’s Cobra will be $1,200 a month for a plan that will end in a matter of months, leaving him uninsured again.
When Bill is unemployed, Larry’s salary alone won’t cover their mortgage and expenses, no less my brother’s health insurance.
Rick Warren is endangering my brother’s health.
Warren also made my nephew a bastard last month.
My sister and her partner have been together for 33 years: they were finally able to marry two months ago.
In November, Rick Warren made their 12 year-old son a bastard.
Despite having been in committed relationships for over three decades, if either of the couples die their long-term partner can’t collect survivor benefits under Social Security.
My sister is a doctor, so Stephanie will probably be okay in their retirement years.
My brother and Larry are working stiffs: after 25 years of working for the same business, Larry is retirement age now, but can’t afford to retire on his Social Security benefits alone.
Depending on how long my 54 year-old brother is out of work, will determine how much of their retirement savings they’ll have to plunder to keep their house.
If one of them dies, the other won’t be able to collect survivor benefits under Social Security benefits.
Rick Warren is happy to send my brother into old age as a pauper.
And yes, Rick himself is endangering my brother’s health, made my nephew a bastard, and is happy to send my brother into old age as a pauper.
Warren publicly declared their loving relationships to be the equivalent of pedophilia and incest, further empowering bigots across the country in their fight to strip my siblings of basic civil rights, and helping spread the message that frightens voters nationwide into voting against my brother and sister.
And Obama has legitimized Warren’s bigotry by elevating Warren to the stage of the inauguration. Has empowered the bigots in their fight to strip my family members of their rights, has supported their message to the frightened voters that yes, indeed, my brother and sister’s loving relationships are the equivalent of the crimes of pedophilia and incest.
After three decades of living together and loving together, neither couple can hold hands in public for fear of being beaten, or murdered. And Rick Warren has used his bully pulpit to spew the bigoted lies that support that murderous possibility.
Rick Warren has characterized my family as sexual criminals — which negatively impacts their very lives in so many more ways than those I’ve mentioned above — and Obama has helped him in his crusade.
And if you refuse to understand that, you’re empowering the bigotry, too.
UPDATE:
I’ve been accused of hyperbole, which isn’t much of an accusation, if you go by the dictionary definition:
Hyperbole [hy‐per‐bŏli], def.: Exaggeration for the sake of emphasis in a figure of speech not meant literally. An everyday example is the complaint `I’ve been waiting here for ages.’
If you’re using “hyperbole” is an insult, the word doesn’t mean what you think it means.
Conservatives and Republicans, by resisting universal health care, by demonizing it just as they demonize gay people, have risked everyone’s health except for the rich who can afford to pay top rates. But yes, this is particularly egregious.
In this season of “Peace on Earth, Goodwill Toward Men”, your post appropriately frames the blatant and often murderous hypocrisy which exists within the fundamentalist evangelical community and which our politicians seem to feel obligated, at times, to curry favor with in order to further a political agenda.
My thoughts and deepest concerns are with those in this country like your brother, sister and their partners, who are still deemed to be less than human and unworthy of basic human rights by a large segment of our country and by their very government.
This is a fight which I believe will be won someday in this country. I pray that the battle is won sooner than later. There are real, living, breathing human beings who are suffering here. In spite of how it is portrayed by people such as Warren.
There are many of us who are with all of you in this struggle. Peace to you and your family, such as it is in a situation so grossly unjust.
I’m sorry for this loss Steven. That really sucks and you and your brother and his partner should be angry. I’m angry.
Also remember that it’s conservative Democrats (or “moderate” if you prefer) that perpetuate this injustice. In fact they may be more morally culpable than the conservatives because at least the conservative bigots believe they are doing the right thing (even though that is twisted reasoning).
The conservative Democrats are the enablers in this dysfunctional relationship.
Not my loss. This was a diary I promoted written by judybrowni.
Thanks for clarifying Steven. Read that too hastily.
And thanks for sharing judybrowni.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
No words come close to my frustration with living with people who clearly have deleted compassion (too small a word) from their personal radar DNA.
Good post, Judy, I am with you all the way. Yes, Warren is a slime ball masquerading as a Christian and Obama is foolish to give this jerk a pulpit. In a way, it’s kind of obscene for Rick Warren to be involved with the inauguration in any manner.
Anyone who thought that Warren was a ‘kinder gentler’ fundamentalist-as the media basically pushed him as being-hadn’t been paying attention.(besides kinder fundie is an oxymoron right?). Warren himself has said there isn’t really any difference between him and that sicko James Dobson except for maybe ‘tone’.
All of here can only hope that equal rights for everyone will come sooner rather than later.
I’m glad you promoted this diary to frontpage steven-these stories of real people need to be told over and over and over to get that message out of how hideously unfair this is and the destruction of peoples lives for the want of a simple ‘I do’.
People like Warren like to talk about sin or immorality…to me it’s a sin and immoral to deny people any basic right.
COBRA is a ridiculous scam. The only ones who can afford it are people who can afford to be out of a job.
But I wonder whether your brother is aware of all the options. AARP could provide helpful ideas in this type of situation. It is certainly worth checking it out if he has not already done so. Also, the other night I saw something on the news about the availability of group health insurance via the web. One of the websites they mentioned was einsurance.com. It looks like they offer group rates, and he can customize his coverage to suit his needs and his budget. Other people have found it beneficial, and it is certainly worth checking out.
Also I worked for years as a contractor and had to provide my own health insurance, and I found that there were a number of ways to get group rates. I don’t know how it is these days, but then there were food and other sorts of co-ops that offered group insurance rates as a membership benefit, as did some credit unions that were open to the general public. I believe Costco offers individual group rates on health insurance as a member benefit – checking that out is free. In my case the best deal was through an organization for local theatrical professionals – and you did not have to be either theatrical or a professional to join, by the way, just pay the very reasonable yearly dues, and you had all the benefits, including being able to get complementary tickets.
The resources that were available to me might not all be available to him, but some people are managing these days as I did back then by getting creative and looking for non-obvious alternatives. I agree that it should not be necessary, but it is, at least for now, and I hope at least one of my suggestions is helpful.