No Health Care For You!!

I hate to beat a dead horse. I even hate to use that saying. Another thing I hate to do is use my bloggy blog to bitchy bitch, but eh, it's my blog, I'll bitch if I want to.
I've moaned and complained about this so much for the past couple of years, even gone to rallies to protest the inequality of it, written grade A papers on the topic...and still, here it is.
We're back to my frustration over my marriage not really being a marriage in our country. America, the land of the free, represses my rights.
All I really, REALLY want is for our country's policies to be consistent. Here's my bitch on this fine Friday. As most of you know, I recently lost my job which also means I lost my health care insurance. Oh, sure, I was offered the option of keeping it, at a rate of close to $400.00 a month. Who can afford that? I mean, really? What normal average person without a job can afford FOUR HUNDRED DOLLARS a month for insurance? I declined and went about my way trying to find private insurance. With my diagnosis of epilepsy, getting insured for any less than that $400 is for all I can tell, impossible.
I abandoned that quest and Wifester attempted to get me insured via her plan at work. It seems that Blue Cross Blue Shield of TN will not allow her to add me to her plan because our state does not legally recognize our marriage. Even though we have a legal marriage license from Canada that any heterosexual couple would be able to use to obtain coverage on their spouse's plan...for us, it's a no go.
OK... fine. That's what we have TennCare for...uninsured Tennesseans, right? So I contacted our local Department of Health and Human Services to try to get TennCare. I mean, I have a serious medical condition that requires medications, physician monitoring, and occasional hospital visits. I NEED insurance. Tennessee says that they have to count Wifester's income as my income because we share a checking account. That said, I do not qualify to receive TennCare because Wifester makes too much money.
Do you follow me here in the inconsistancy?? How is it that we are totally separate entities when it comes to filing taxes or buying insurance but when it comes to state funded health care...all of a sudden, they want to recognize this person in my life as a part of my life!
It's not right. If they want to count Wifester's income against me, then they should consider me as a dependant on Wifester and allow her to insure me on her policy! I'm no lawyer, but to me that's discrimination, blatent and outright.

I have hope that Souther's replacement will be a gay friendly justice who will help lean the Supreme Court toward a more tolerant and accepting policy on my marital status. What do you think will happen? How do you think equality will be gained? Do you think it will be gained at all? Tell me what you think.

Gay or Straight, Black or White - Marriage is A Civil Right!

photo by Wifester

The Wifester and I had a blast hanging out with fellow homos, fighting for our rights. The crowd was about 50/50 gay/straight. The ratio was nice and provided a rather eclectic group.
We were on the news and we were interviewed by the adorable and sweet Joey Leslie, of Out and About Newspaper, Nashville's gay news source.
And he took this wonderfuly sweet photo of us:

Photo by Joey Lewis, of Out and About Newspaper

It was chilly cold, and a bit rainy, but that didn't dampen our spirits! We marched around in front of the courthouse, chanting "What do we want? Equality! When do we want it? NOW!"

photo by Wifester

And then everyone decided to take it to the street, so we headed down to the curb side. We were greeted by honking horns, cheers, thumbs up and one homeless guy with a finger up, alright, but it wasn't the thumb. In fact, he was the one and only representative of any opposition. He went so far as to make a gesture that I suppose was his impression of Rambo, with a semi-automatic weapon let loose on us. But he staggered on down the road and finally left us alone when he realized that no one would engage his antics.
Some speakers spoke, some people shared their stories and experiences, and I felt proud to be part of a community that comes together like we do, even in the funky, windy, wet, cold weather like yesterday.
All in all there was about 200 people, or more. A good turnout for Nashville, and bad weather.
Here's a pretty cool video that Val, from Avalon Farmblog made.


I love being an activist! Wifester even got into it, I think I can get her to do some more of these.

Oh, in case you don't know, to all my fellow gays, December 10 will be A Day Without the Gays!

On December 10, 2008 the gay community will take a historic stance against hatred by calling in Gay, to work, and donating love, time, and energy to a variety of different causes. You are encouraged not to call in sick to work. You are encouraged to call in "gay"--and donate your time to service!

December 10, 2008 is International Human Rights Day. CLICK HERE to join the effort, and search or add to the list of human rights organizations that need our help RIGHT NOW.

That's some community action I can really get with.