Marvin Burrows and his life-long partner, Bill Swenor, were together for 51 years and did everything within their power to demonstrate their commitment to each other, including registering as California domestic partners. When Bill died suddenly in March 2005, Marvin was not only devastated, he was also financially destitute. Marvin submitted a claim for Bill’s pension benefits as any spouse would do; however, despite their loving and committed relationship, the company terminated Marvin’s health insurance coverage, rejected his claim, and denied him the benefits that millions of spouses routinely receive. As a result, Marvin was financially devastated and was forced to move out of the home he and Bill shared for more than three decades. Marvin came to NCLR for support, and NCLR was able to provide the help that Marvin so desperately needed.

NCLR, with the assistance of attorney Teresa Renaker, filed an initial appeal letter asking Bill’s union, the Industrial Employers and Distributors Association and Warehouse Union (ILWU) to reconsider their stance, which the company rejected. After two years of NCLR working on Marvin’s behalf, the ILWU updated its policies entitling Marvin to receive Bill’s pension benefits, retroactively dating it to March 1, 2005, allowing him to receive a benefit on behalf of Bill. NCLR is thrilled with this victory for Marvin and for the larger LGBT community.

“I am overwhelmed that I will finally receive what Bill promised me in case he passed away before me,” Marvin said. “Finally our community is being recognized, and my 51 years with Bill means something to others, not just me. Bill is smiling down on me today.”

read NCLR's press release 08.22.07

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Because California is seen as a national leader on LGBT issues, the outcome of this case will affect LGBT people across the country. A victory will change the national climate and advance equality and fairness for our community in virtually every state.

“This case is important not just because marriage itself is important, but because it is a human right,” said NCLR Legal Director Shannon Minter. “As long as same-sex couples are denied such a basic right, we will continue to be officially branded as outsiders. That is why the stakes of this case are so high. It is not only about whether LGBT people can marry. Even more fundamentally, it is about whether LGBT people are entitled to full equality, period.”

On September 26, more than 250 religious and civil rights organizations, including the California NAACP, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the California Council of Churches, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the National Black Justice Coalition, Legal Momentum, and dozens of other religious and civil rights organizations will file friend-of-the-court briefs in support of marriage for same-sex couples. The briefing process concludes with responses to amicus briefs, which are due in October. The California Supreme Court will set oral arguments at the conclusion of the briefing. These friend-of-the-court briefs vividly illustrate the tremendous diversity of support for full equality for our families. In the meantime, thanks to the work of Equality California, the California Legislature has for the second time passed a bill that would permit same-sex couples to marry, as it did in 2005 as well. The bill is now on Governor Schwarzenegger’s desk. For more information, go to http://www.eqca.org./.

NCLR’s co-counsel in this historic case includes Lambda Legal, the ACLU, Heller Ehrman LLP, and the Law Office of David C. Codell. NCLR is lead counsel, representing 15 same-sex couples, Equality California, and Our Family Coalition.

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NCLR client Jenniffer Spencer’s story is heartbreaking. She is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for possession of a stolen car and a failed escape attempt that occurred when she was a teenager. Since she has been incarcerated in Idaho, Jenniffer, a transgender woman, made repeated requests—75 in total—for treatment for her gender identity disorder (GID), but the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) failed to provide her with any appropriate care. Jenniffer attempted suicide when she learned that prison doctors would not provide any treatment and eventually performed her own castration using a disposable razor blade in her prison cell, nearly bleeding to death in the process.

NCLR client Jenniffer Spencer’s story is heartbreaking. She is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence for possession of a stolen car and a failed escape attempt that occurred when she was a teenager. Since she has been incarcerated in Idaho, Jenniffer, a transgender woman, made repeated requests—75 in total—for treatment for her gender identity disorder (GID), but the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC) failed to provide her with any appropriate care. Jenniffer attempted suicide when she learned that prison doctors would not provide any treatment and eventually performed her own castration using a disposable razor blade in her prison cell, nearly bleeding to death in the process.

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by NCLR Elder Law Project Coordinator Joyce Pierson

In July, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) held the “Aging and Diversity in the 21st Century” conference. For the first time, LGBT professionals, senior advocates, and their allies were able to fully participate in the conference programming rather than being separated into a conference that dealt exclusively with LGBT issues. Instead, LGBT issues were incorporated into the full conversation about diversity and addressed the many nuances of oppression faced by the growing population of elders.

As an out lesbian representing NCLR’s Elder Law Project, this conference was a profound experience. As a representative and presenter at many national aging conferences, I have been acutely aware of the marginalization of LGBT aging programs and services. We made progress when the American Society on Aging was the first national aging organization to establish a LGBT contingency. After the dismal outcome of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, where LGBT issues were unaddressed and invisible, LGBT activists held public hearings across the nation—including NCLR’s LGBT Elders Coalition in the Bay Area—and change happened. There was a groundswell of visibility nationally. The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, along with representatives from SAGE in New York and AARP, among others, gave rise to a new national voice for LGBT seniors by holding a summit meeting in Washington, D.C. Two years ago, LGBT issues were invisible at national conferences, and now our community’s needs are being addressed in a meaningful way.

I strongly recommend that NCLR supporters become more educated about aging and diversity, especially for those who are over the age of fifty. The AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity with programs in every state. Visit www.aarp.org for more information about their work.

read more about NCLR's Elder Law Project

The ten short digital stories included on NCLR’s DVD and Resource CD Breaking the Silence: LGBTQ Foster Youth Tell Their Stories, developed in collaboration with the Y.O.U.T.H. Training Project, are powerful tales of both the successes and failures of the foster care system. NCLR has distributed nearly 2,000 copies to child welfare workers, judges, and policy makers across the country. The American Library Association selected the DVD as one of the best published in 2006.

Wolfe Video included one of Breaking the Silence’s digital stories on the DVD release of Follow My Voice with the Music of Hedwig. The film weaves the compelling, courageous stories of four students at New York's Harvey Milk School with a unique chronicle of the yearlong creation of "Wig in a Box," the album whose songs poignantly echo these teens' struggles and aspirations. Student video diaries, and rare in-studio scenes of artists recording tracks, Follow My Voice offers a powerful look at this unlikely intersection of youth, gender, and rock. Includes Yoko Ono, Rufus Wainwright, Cyndi Lauper, Ben Folds, The Breeders, Yo La Tengo, John Cameron Mitchell, They Might Be Giants and more. To learn more about both films, visit www.wolfevideo.com.

July’s forum of presidential candidates discussing LGBT issues was a breakthrough event for our community. It was unprecedented to hear leading candidates talking, in relative depth and with relative degrees of comfort and fluency, about our lives. The forum was also proof positive of the stunning progress our movement has made, even in these last three years.

In 2004, the LGBT community was scapegoated by one major political party and virtually abandoned by the other. Now, as a result of our continual political engagement and our unrelenting visibility, we are playing an active, crucial, and highly visible role in the process of electing the next president. This is worth celebrating, and it is also just the kind of fuel that we need as we move forward—into a time of deeper engagement and greater visibility.

In commenting on the forum, many have focused on what the leading candidates failed to say. I do not disagree with this analysis. But I am less concerned with critiquing the candidates and more concerned with what we must do. With the rights that we are fighting for come profound responsibilities to fully engage as citizens.

We must lead by example, rather than waiting for our national leaders to show the way. Our engagement must be complete, and continuous. Our vision must be expansive and generous, including issues that affect not only members of our community, but also our neighbors and strangers—issues such as poverty, the war in Iraq, global warming, and immigration. We must vote in larger numbers than we ever have, for if we do, we will emerge as a formidable voting bloc that can sway a national election. We can be heard in this way. We must also take the time and, sometimes, take the risk to talk with family, friends, co-workers, and neighbors about the issues that matter most to us.

We are all too familiar with the defensive protective posture that circumstances can force us into. We have learned to be cautious, and sometimes mistrusting, when those in power make us promises. These responses are natural and human; but it is also our charge to transcend them and to instead lead—from a place of compassion, and with a vision of a world in which all people are treated equally. We will be closer to this vision when full rights and protections are granted to LGBT individuals, but our work will not be done, for there are others who are being excluded or persecuted. Through our struggle, we are made agents in the process of transforming our country into the democracy that it can be. This work is real, and it is now.

read more from Kate on her blog, Out for Justice