Thank You For Your Call on Vimeo

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2. Ara Oshagan's "Juvies"

by Shawn Nee / discarted

1 year ago

1. Thank You For Your Call

by Shawn Nee / discarted

1 year ago

***Outfest 2011 jury award winner for best documentary short***

In 1935, the Social Security Act was created to help ensure the economic safety of America's elderly.

As of July 2010, the United States Social Security Administration does not recognize same-sex marriages or domestic partnerships as valid relationships.

Consequently, thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender seniors are denied Social Security benefits every year.

Ineligible for Social Security surivors benefits, and faced with undue economic burdens, many LGBT seniors are often forced to give up their homes after losing their partner.

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John Parmater 1 year ago

That guy is pathetic. He wants us to pay to pay his living expenses because he lived with a guy who actually earned the benefits? If his benefits are only $800, he's never paid in much to SS. I don't think he deserves anything. Don't get me wrong. We all like a free lunch. But I don't see any way of latching on to someone else's benefits. He wants to retire at 60 and go on the dole with someone else's benefits. The guy is a whiner and apparently a do-nothing. If he wants SS benefits, he needs to earn some money and pay in. That's how the system works. It would be nice if the government was rich enough that we could all tag onto someone else's SS benefits, but it isn't. My value system says "Don't be a leech. Earn your own way." At 60, the guy is totally capable of earning a living. What's his excuse for wanting to go on the dole? Because he lived with someone who actually earned a decent living? That doesn't compute. If he's 60, he's probably been working 40 years. He's had plenty of time to pay into SS. It's kind of late to complaining about it now. I'm not against entitlement programs. I'm not against social programs. But complaining because you cannot claim someone else's benefits is pathetic. How about using his own savings or investments? Has he frittered away everything he's earned all his life along with paying very little into SS? And now he wants us to support him? No thanks!
Jeff Marx 1 year ago

The real issue here is that some couples are allowed to merge their lives and count on being able to support each other, while some couples aren't allowed to. This couple was clearly together as much as any gay couple could be, living together for 32 years, registered as domestic partners, wanting nothing more than to be a loving and happy couple and not bother anyone. Why should our government (and the social security system we all pay into) treat them differently from other couples when one partner dies? Because they're same-sex? Describing their partnership smugly as "he lived with a guy" is what's pathetic. If couples should continue receiving both partners' Social Security benefits after one partner's death, then it should be the same for all legitimate couples. This is why marriage equality is so important -- allowing all legitimate couples to get married if they want to. In America, my rights and benefits are supposed to be the same as yours, your parents, your neighbors, the stupid couple down the street, etc. It wasn't so long ago that interracial marriages were illegal, and that non-white people and women weren't allowed to vote. Progress may be slow, but EQUAL RIGHTS is the most fundamental principle America's ever had.
heather gold 1 year ago

John do you believe that's true of any wife or husband of someone who earned more than them? If the system denied them too then it would be fair and treat everyone the same. But it doesn't. Does your mum get SS benefits from your dad's payments into the system? If she lost her home because he died would she be a whiner too?
k coonce 1 year ago

I am not even going to touch the above comment. But as the sister of someone who works at Social Security, I cannot tell you how much it pains her when faced with these situations. She loves her job and believes in Social Security but sees the contradiction in not offering partner benefits. I cannot speak for her, but I am sure she would not just say "thank you for your call." But, her hands are tied and it puts her in a horrible position of doing something she is morally opposed to...discriminating against someone who is gay. Just wanted to let you know that people who work at SSA are not faceless bureaucrats, but people who may genuinely care and have their hands tied by discriminatory practices.
Da Dawson 1 year ago

John P., your homophobia is palpable. How dare the government withold this deceased man's benefits to his spouse of 32 years because of gender?! Your argument doesn't hold water in terms of many non-working widows out there who were married to men, and it should NOT be different for gays. Gay couples are discriminated against, unfairly taxed and are literally robbed by cities, states and this whole country because of archaic, intolerant and pathetic people like you. Hoping for change, working for it and standing up for it but not counting on it - because of backwoods idiots like you who just don't get it until the system bites YOU in the ass.
John Parmater 1 year ago

Is is too late for me to find some old guy to marry so i can pick up survivor benefits? How long would we have to be married? I guess you folks have gotten me to rethink this. I wouldn't mind picking up an extra $2500 a month myself. Just let me know the rules. Like you say, fair is fair.

I've got a friend who's picking up $3000 a month because his now-deceased wife used to teach school. He never taught a day of school in his life, but he's getting the benefits. I want survivor benefits, too! Just let me know how to cash in.
John Richard Petersen 1 year ago

I agree with John P. - YES, all women who did nothing to earn SS BENEFITS should not be entitled to their husbands benefits - if they did not have a job - then they deserve NOTHING! When their husbands die, take away that income, take away their homes, take away their way of life. Doesn't matter if they were life long homemakers and provided love and care to their husbands for an entire life time. EQUAL RIGHTS - if a gay man who is a homemaker deserves NOTHING than ALL WIVES deserve NOTHING!

I am legally married to my husband in California. We have been together 24 years, although only legally married only for two. My husband probably makes more in one year than Mr. Parmater made
in a life time. We have a beautiful home and while my husband is at work, I pay the bills, maintain the house and keep a home, but I do not make as much as my husband. I live with the fear that if something, God Forbid, were to happen to him I would lose my partner, my friend, my home and my way of life.
Sounds like Mr. Parmater is jealous of his friend who found love and a life partner and is now being able to keep his home despite the loss of his wife and love. Go tell your friend he doesn't deserve those benefits. I dare you!
Brad Carlson 1 year ago

It's hard to believe after watching this heartbreaking video that the first comment would be from someone so cruel, snide and arrogant that he actually refers to Mr. Bowersock as "pathetic."

What's truly pathetic is John Parmater's twisted sense of justice, and his contempt for a man who has not only lost the love of his life, but has also had to face the gut-punching reality that the government of his country regards him as a second-class citizen.
LSL 1 year ago

Heartbreaking. I'm so sorry for the loss this man endured, but very glad his story is being told.
David Cobb 1 year ago

Bill was a friend of mine many years ago -- we sang together in the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles. He was far from a "do-nothing", he had a number of successful careers. And his partnership with Harvey wasn't merely "two guys living together" -- they were a single unit, just like any other straight couple.

Social Security is broken. We should be able to assign our benefits to ANY beneficiary, be it a same-sex partner, or even a niece or nephew. It's not about "being lazy", it's about paying into a system that helps our families in the long-term.
Bill Farmer 1 year ago

Don't worry about John Parmater. It's perfectly understandable that he's confused about the difference between a life partner and "marrying some old guy". The only intimate relationships he's ever known were with barnyard animals. Poor guy.
David Naugle 1 year ago

No, I doubt John Parmater has ever known a farm animal intimately, because I don't think they would let him get close enough. I suspect his right hand would even be rejected. He's just an ignorant Repug and it's best to ignore their rants.