This is a very good article from CNN.com that is well worth reading. I posted a link to it in the marriage thread but thought it was important enough to have its own thread. http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/wayoflife/03/17/gays.aging.problems/index.html?hpt=T2
Hopefully this will change as our generation is generally more and more accepting. Also... come to Canada while you wait for same sex marriage in the states.
This saddens me. I've always been terrified of growing old with someone and then one of us dying suddenly, leaving the other without any sort of protection.
Every one of us, regardless of our age, needs to read this article from top to bottom; it will be a wake-up call to a future that may not be as bright as you think. I am sooo glad you brought this up. This is a major issue and one that will affect most if not all of us at some point in our lives. I know there's a lot of younger people here on EC, but all of us are going to grow old some day, and it is a little scary to see what awaits us... Yet another major difference between the LGBT community and the straight world. This also helps to remind me why we are fighting for same-sex marriage equality around the world. Right now in many places there is gross inequality, an I am scared to think of what life will be like when many LGBT folks get older. I am also terrified to think what will happen when I am old enough to need care and I probably won't have any children to help look after me. I think we have it relatively good here in Canada, at least when it comes to growing old in a gay relationship. I know there are people on EC who are more knowledgeable than me and I may not have my facts completely right, but if I'm not mistaken here in Canada not only do married same-sex couples have equal rights as heterosexual married couples (e.g. visitation rights, death benefits) but I also believe that under Canadian law, non-married couples who qualify as "common-law" (which I believe is based on the number of years they've been together) also have the same rights as married gay and hetero couples. This is significant, because it means we can choose to marry or not to marry and still enjoy these rights. Again this is only my opinion, but I believe that the groundwork for this was laid by the resolution of the same-sex marriage debate in Canada. I am particularly worried about LGBT people living in the US. It really is frightening to me to hear the stories they tell in that CNN article. I'd say for all LGBT people in the US to move to Canada (and you'd be very welcome here!), but that's not a solution - the US has to get this right. And then it's even worse in many other countries. Let this be a reminder that for as much progress as we've made, we are not quite equal yet. And the comments below the article are pretty crass...
