Crash Course: Estate Planning for the LGBT Community

This week’s Crash Course lesson is on estate planning - something that most people think about, but are somestimes slow to take care of doing. Why worry with estate planning at all?

· Under current law in Kentucky, you and your partner have no legally-recognized relationship.

· You have no legal right to information should your partner become hurt or disabled.

· You have no legal right to make medical decisions should your partner become unable to do so.

· You have no legal right to inherit from your partner at his/her death.

· If you do not make certain decisions, a court will appoint someone to make decisions on your behalf. That person may not know or follow your decisions.

Now that you know why it’s so important to the GLBT community, what estate planning do you need to do?

· Power of Attorney - allows someone to make non-medical decisions and/or handle your affairs should you become disabled.

· Authorization to obtain medical information - allows someone to obtain medical information about you at any time because Federal law prohibits medical providers from releasing medical information without your written consent.

· Living Will/Health Care Surrogate - allows someone to make medical decisions should you become unable to do so. You get to decide what “end-of-life” decisions you want. You get to decide how those decisions are followed.

· Last Will & Testament - declares how you want your property to be distributed at your death. You can make it known if you want to be cremated. You can provide for someone to care for your minor or disabled children (assuming another natural or adoptive parent doesn’t already have that right.)

HOMEWORK: More and more of us in the LGBT community are taking estate planning seriously and proactively making future plans rather than just thinking about them. Do you have a story to tell about this or would like to recommend a LGBT friendly attorney? Please, feel free to share.

That’s it for this week. We’ll see you next week when we discuss adoption and parenting.

In fairness,
Your KFA Team.

Crash Course: Inclusive Hate Crimes Laws

This week’s lesson is on inclusive hate crimes laws. Merriam-Webster defines hate crimes as those “motivated by hostility to the victim as a member of a group.”

HATE CRIMES ARE MEANT TO CAUSE FEAR AND INTIMIDATION TOWARD A GROUP.

The facts...

*Kentucky hate crimes laws include sexual orientation, but not gender identity.

*Federally, hate crimes laws do not include sexual orientation or gender identity. However, nearly 70% of Americans according to a 2007 Gallup poll support expanding current laws.

*The National Sheriffs’ Association, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, and the U.S. Conference of Mayors all support expanding hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

*According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), anti-gay hate crimes are the 3rd most frequent kind of hate crimes in America only following race and religion.

Hate crimes laws do not affect religious freedoms. For example, current proposed federal legislation to expand protections refers to physically violent acts and intentions to hurt or intimidate certain groups of people, not to speech or non-violent expression.

Hate crimes can be horribly brutal. In 2002, Gwen Araujo, a 17-year old transgender student, was brutally murdered by four men who beat her with a shovel, a frying pan, and a barbell; partially strangled her; and buried her alive in the desert-just because she was transgender. There are far too many examples of these brutal crimes, among them the murders of Matthew Shepard and PFC Barry Winchell.

Expanding federal hate crimes laws to include sexual orientation and gender identity will ensure gay and transgender citizens the protections afforded us all on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity and national origin.

HOMEWORK: Retelling the stories of hate crimes can be extremely painful. We’re not going to ask anyone to do that. However, we’ll toss this week’s lesson up on the blog site as normal and open it up for comments if you have them.

In fairness,
Your KFA Team.

Sources: www.merriam-webster.com, www.partnersagainsthate.org, www.sfgate.com, and www.lgbtmap.org.

Crash Course: Employment Protections

Outside Covington, Lexington, and Louisville, Kentuckians can be fired for their “sexual orientation” or “gender identity” with no legal recourse. You might hear from those who don’t support fairness that passing a Statewide Fairness Law is a new concept and not in keeping with Kentucky’s values. They’re wrong. Expanding Kentucky’s civil rights code to include “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” is simply an expansion of existing laws that protect people from being fired for reasons other than job performance. And, fairness really is a Kentucky value!

In 1999, Kentucky Fairness Alliance (KFA) hired Decision Research to poll Kentuckians on their feelings about protections in the workplace for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals. 74% OF KENTUCKIANS RESPONDING SAID NO TO DISCRIMINATION AND YES TO PROTECTIONS!

In 2007, Gallup found that the number of AMERICANS SUPPORTING FAIRNESS IN THE WORKPLACE HAS CLIMBED TO AN ALL TIME HIGH OF 89%. 98% of the Fortune 1000 companies prohibit employment discrimination against gay employees; 58% include transgender employees.

Support for employment protections is clear! Unfortunately, sexual orientation and gender identity are not included in existing federal non-discrimination laws. Twenty states have expanded their non-discrimination laws to include sexual orientation; thirteen of those states include gender identity.

In 2008, Kentucky State Senators Harper-Angel, Neal, Scorsone, and Shaughnessy filed legislation with State Representatives Burch, Marzian, Meeks, Palumbo, Stein, and Westrom to expand employment protections in Kentucky to include sexual orientation and gender identity. That leaves us at least 60 legislators short of the majority we need to pass a law. We need your help!

HOMEWORK: Do you have a personal story of discrimination in the workplace? Share it with us by posting a response here. Personal stories are the best way we can share the importance of employment protections with our elected officials.

That’s all for now. We’ll see you next week when we discuss inclusive hate crime laws.

In fairness,
Your KFA Team.

Sources: http://www.lgbtmap.org/, http://www.gallup.com/, http://www.thetaskforce.org/ and http://www.hrc.org/.

Crash Course: Don't ask, don't tell

As promised, it’s Wednesday and time for our first class! This week we’re covering “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Kentucky Fairness Alliance supports the work of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and their top reasons for lifting the ban on gay service members.

~End discrimination (No other law mandates firing someone because they are lesbian, gay or bisexual.);

~Strengthen Military Readiness;

~Save Tax Payer Money (“Don’t ask, don’t tell” cost more than $360 million in taxpayer funds between 1994 and 2003.);

~Honor Our Troops; and

~Stop the Double-Standard.

79% of Americans are in support of lifting the ban on openly gay service members! 62% of Republicans and 85% of Democrats are in support of lifting the ban.

High-ranking military officials are also speaking! General John Shalikashvili, retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff stated, “I now believe that if gay men and lesbians served openly in the U.S. military, they would not undermine the efficacy of the armed forces.”

The Military Readiness Act (HR1246) was introduced in the U.S. House in 2006 by Rep. Meehan (D-MA). This piece of legislation would establish a policy of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation for the members of the armed services.

Both major presumptive presidential nominees have taken positions on “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) supports lifting the ban, while Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) does not.

In 2008, Rep. Davis (D-California) held the first congressional hearing on “Don’t ask, don’t tell” since its inception 15 years ago. Check out Rep. Davis’ opening remarks on YouTube.

HOMEWORK: Do you know someone that has been dismissed from the military because of being who they are? Do you think DADT will be repealed during the next presidency? Post your response on here.

That’s it for this week. Next week, we’ll be discussing employment discrimination. See you then.

A Crash Course That's Not A Drag: Intro

It’s that time again when tens of thousands across the commonwealth head back to school. So, we thought we would share a refresher course on issues of importance to fair-minded Kentuckians. We’ll have class the middle of each week for the next several weeks on a variety of topics to include: adoption and parenting, “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” employment protections, inclusive hate crime laws, estate planning, and religion. It wouldn’t be school without homework, so don’t think you’re getting out of it. Your assignment each week will be to ponder the information presented and post personal stories or comments on our Leading Light blog, engaging each other on the topics.

Recently, a phrase was coined by the Movement Advancement Project that we’re really digging at Kentucky Fairness Alliance. For everyone worried that this crash course is going to be a drag listen up: “This is about everyday Americans who want the same chance as everyone else to earn a living, be safe in their communities, serve their country, and take care of the ones they love.”

We’re going to give you the facts just like you’re sitting through an old-school lecture, but your personal stories are what will make this class shine. Sharing your stories through the homework assignments will get you an “A.”

So, we've told you that class doesn’t start until next week, but we’re giving you homework today. The assignment is to ponder the following terms and share through a personal story how they fit into your everyday life as an LGBT or fair-minded Kentuckian: 1) hard working, 2) security, 3) responsibility, and 4) caring. Turn in your assignment by posting here (and, yes, we’ll even let you turn it in anonymously).

That’s it. See you next Wednesday when we talk about “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Class dismissed!