Seniors for a Fair Wisconsin
Many senior citizens are working to defeat the ban on civil unions and marriage because they are concerned not just with the impact of the ban on gay people but also on unmarried, non-gay seniors.
The second sentence of the proposed ban would outlaw a legal status for unmarried individuals who are in a relationship "identical or substantially similar to that of marriage."
The Coalition of Wisconsin Aging Groups opposes the ban because it just goes too far. Here is an excerpt from their February 2006 memo to members of the Wisconsin Assembly:
Thousands of older persons are in committed relationships that would come under the definition of a "legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage..." But older couples are in these types of relationships for very valid reasons, including loss of pension (e.g. railroad retirement), not wanting to jeopardize the inheritance of children, the creation of trusts to support a surviving spouse, etc.
Seniors are voting "No" because:
This amendment goes too far.
It is not only about banning marriage for gay couples. The second sentence of the amendment would ban any legal status that is "substantially similar" to marriage for unmarried individuals—meaning no civil unions or domestic partnership.
It will have far-reaching consequences.
Other states that have passed similar amendments have seen them used to challenge legal protections for unmarried couples. For example, in Ohio, judges have ruled that domestic violence penalties cannot be applied to unmarried men who have abused their female partners. In Michigan, the state attorney general has ruled that the amendment passed there invalidates domestic partner health insurance benefits. Over 300 Wisconsin legal experts have urged state lawmakers to oppose the ban because of its far reach.
Thousands of unmarried older couples in Wisconsin could be affected by the amendment.
According to the 2000 U.S. Census, there are 109,735 unmarried opposite-sex couples in Wisconsin and thousands of those are senior couples who have never married or choose not to remarry a new partner after the death of a spouse. Legal protections such as wills, medical decision-making, and financial powers of attorney for these couples could be vulnerable to legal challenges if the proposed amendment passes in Wisconsin.
Lesbian and gay seniors are already vulnerable to discrimination and this amendment will cause further hardship.
Because lesbian and gay couples do not have the rights and security that marriage provides, they have no guarantees that they can live together in nursing homes and share health and retirement benefits. This amendment will enshrine that discrimination in the Wisconsin Constitution and possibly take away existing protections.
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