Social Security privatization will hurt gays, study says
Task Force paper contradicts support for plan from gay GOP group
By LAURA DOUGLAS-BROWN | Aug 9, 4:03 PM

Gay people are more likely to rely on Social Security for retirement income, making them more vulnerable to any cuts in benefits that might occur if the system is privatized, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute.

“It’s a raw deal for all Americans, in particular for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Americans,” author Mandy Hu said in a telephone conference today.

The study, dubbed “Selling Us Short,” said gay Americans should be especially wary of President Bush’s plan to allow workers to invest a portion of their Social Security taxes in private stock accounts. Details of Bush’s plan remain “sketchy” and “befuddled,” Hu said, but it would ultimately result in reduced benefits for all but the lowest-income workers.

Such a drop in Social Security benefits could prove especially devastating to gay men and lesbians who have fewer other avenues for support in retirement, according to the study. Gay people are less likely to have children to care for them in old age, the study noted. They also earn less than heterosexuals and have to spend more on expenses such as healthcare, since domestic partner benefits are taxed while spousal benefits are not, according to the Task Force researchers.

The Log Cabin Republicans, a national gay GOP group, announced earlier this year that it would support a plan to restructure Social Security based on the belief that private savings accounts would allow gay partners to inherit each other’s savings; currently, domestic partners cannot receive Social Security survivor benefits.

But the Task Force report called that argument “specious,” arguing that “the right to pass Social Security savings on to one’s same-sex partner is not so meaningful when the privatization schemes will leave many with no such savings to pass on.”