Withers: Navratilova diagnosed with breast cancer

[1]

Sorry for taking so long to get this. Tennis great Martina Navratilova [2] announced this week she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

“I cried. It knocked me on my ass, really. I feel so in control of my life and my body, and then this comes, and it’s completely out of my hands.”

In February, the 53 year old had a routine mammogram and it was discovered she had ductal carcinoma in situ—also called DCIS. The cancer is non-invasive and confined to her milk ducts—it had not spread to any breast tissue. In February Navratilova had a lumpectomy and next month begins six weeks of radiation therapy. From all accounts, as with most women who find out they have DCIS, Navratilova’s future looks bright.

“The prognosis of someone with DCIS is excellent,” Dr. Shelley Hwang told People magazine [3]. “There’s only a one-percent chance of anyone with this diagnosis would die of breast cancer.”

Navratilova admitted it had been four years since her last mammogram. Reminds me of many women in my family. Well that’s not fair. At least Navratilova sees a doctor. My women folk? They are convinced all you need to fight illness is Tylenol, plus an enema. That theory is popular with the women relatives with health insurance.

If it has been awhile since your last mammogram, maybe it’s time to get one.

[1] http://www.365gay.com/wp-content/uploads/Martina-Navratilova-top.jpg
[2] http://www.afterellen.com/blog/trishbendix/morning-brew-wednesday-april-7-2010
[3] http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20358261,00.html

House subcommittee approves benefits for same-sex partners

A House subcommittee today advanced a bill to provide health and retirement benefits to the same-sex domestic partners of gay and lesbian federal employees.

The bill, HR 2517, passed the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee on the federal workforce, Postal Service and the District of Columbia on a party-line vote.

Democrats said the bill is needed to eliminate an inequality that drives some talented employees away from the government. Gay and lesbian employees currently cannot cover their domestic partners under their health insurance or provide an annuity for their partners after they die, even if they are legally married in states that recognize gay marriage. Supporters of the new bill say the current policy places an undue financial burden on as many as 34,000 gay and lesbian federal employees in domestic partnerships, who have to maintain separate health plans to keep both partners covered.

Many states and Fortune 500 companies offer same-sex partners such benefits. See House subcommittee approves benefits for same-sex partners

Federal Times

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Gay veteran’s military dismissal puts spotlight on California congressional race

WASHINGTON – Anthony Woods says he grew up without health insurance, struggled to get an education and fought in Iraq, a war he didn’t believe in.

Then he got kicked out of the military for violating its “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy after telling his commanding officer he was gay.

Woods, a 28-year-old graduate of West Point, figures he has the proper anti-establishment credentials to win an open seat in California’s 10th Congressional District. He’s proud of his lack of political experience, saying experienced politicians haven’t done much good in either Sacramento or Washington.

“If we keep sending experienced career politicians to D.C., nothing’s going to change,” Woods said in an interview.

Woods may be a long shot in the race to replace the retiring Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher in the East Bay seat, but his presence assures it will be a high-profile affair. It’s already resulting in national attention.

Woods, a Democrat, is less well-known than his challengers, but his team is banking on the candidate’s compelling life story and his status as an outsider to put him over the top in a splintered field.

See Gay veteran’s military dismissal puts spotlight on California …

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Gay Couples Express Hope Over Benefits Extension

As Candy Holmes eyes retirement after 33 years of work for the Government Accountability Office, a major worry clouds her outlook.

Her partner, a clergywoman with limited health insurance, is not covered by the health or retirement benefits that Holmes receives from the federal government.

“I’ve been without benefits for my partner the entire time,” said Holmes, an information technology manager at the GAO. “Thank God we have not had any major illness. If we had, I’m not sure how we could manage.” See Gay Couples Express Hope Over Benefits Extension

Washington Post – Steve Vogel -

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OBAMA: BENEFITS FOR GAY PARTNERSHEALTH INSURANCE NOT INCLUDED

OBAMA: BENEFITS FOR GAY PARTNERS
HEALTH INSURANCE NOT INCLUDED

Arizona lawmakers seek to strip domestic partners of health coverage

Arizona lawmakers are moving to take away health insurance coverage for the domestic partners of state and university employees. These rights were gained by domestic partners only one year ago.

About 750 workers would be affected says the Department of Administration. If put into affect, the state budget would define “dependents” …

Wisconsin Trial Court Dismisses ACLU Lawsuit Seeking Domestic Partner Benefits For Lesbian and Gay State Employees

But Issues Lengthy Decision Reasoning That It Is Unconstitutional For the State To Deny The Benefits

MADISON, WI – On Friday, a Wisconsin trial court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of lesbian state employees and their partners seeking domestic partner health insurance and family leave protections. In a 46 page opinion, the court notes that although it believes it is unconstitutional for the state to continue to deny the employees equal health insurance coverage and family leave protection, it is bound by a prior decision from the Wisconsin Court of Appeals from 1992.
The Court’s opinion states: “The plaintiffs have offered a strong showing that the employment benefits in issue have been provided on a discriminatory basis. The defendants’ explanations offered for the continuing discrimination against these plaintiffs are unpersuasive and inadequate.”
“Losing doesn’t get any better than this,” said Larry Dupuis, Litigation Director of the ACLU. “We knew we had an uphill battle in the trial court because of the earlier case. But the court agreed with us that discrimination based on sexual orientation should be subject to strict judicial review and that it is unconstitutional for the state to deny equal benefits.”
The Court also found that providing the benefits would not be barred by the anti-gay marriage amendment that passed in 2006. After the amendment passed, the state had argued that the amendment barred the state from providing the benefits.

The ACLU filed the lawsuit in April 2005 on behalf of six lesbian state employees and their partners. The lawsuit charges that it is a violation of the state’s equal protection guarantees to deny lesbian and gay state employees access to the same health insurance and family leave protections that it provides to straight employees who are able to cover their spouses. The lawsuit was stalled for years because a number of Wisconsin municipalities tried to inject themselves into the lawsuit. The issue ultimately went up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which ruled that they were not entitled to become a party to the litigation.

Governor Jim Doyle has repeatedly stated that he would like to provide lesbian and gay state employees with equal health insurance coverage and included in his budget proposal a provision for domestic partner coverage.

“While we are heartened by the court’s decision, we urge the legislature to pass the domestic partner bill so there will be no need to appeal,” added Chris Ahmuty, Executive Director of the ACLU of Wisconsin. “Our clients are forced to pay expensive prices for inferior health coverage and sometimes even to forego necessary care. They suffer every day this issue goes unresolved.”

Wisconsin Department of Corrections employee Jayne Dunnum and her partner, Robin Timm, pay nearly $450 a month for private insurance for Timm who works on the couple’s organic farm and food store in Platteville. “We don’t care if it happens through the courts or the legislature. We just really need the health insurance coverage,” said Dunnum. “It’s a matter of basic fairness. I work just as hard has my straight colleagues and shouldn’t be denied the equal employment benefits.”

The case is Dunnum v. Department of Employee Trust Funds. The couples are represented by John Knight and Rose Saxe of the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project, Larry Dupuis of the ACLU of Wisconsin, and cooperating attorneys Linda Roberson and Christopher Krimmer of the Madison law firm Balisle & Roberson.
Biographical information for all of the couples, today’s decision, the complaint, and additional information are available at http://www.aclu.org/getequal/caseprofiles.htm.

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AIDS/LifeCycle charity bike ride gets personal when recession hits

Timothy Brodt is among more than 2,000 bike riders who left Sunday on a 545-mile trek from San Francisco to Los Angeles as part of the AIDS/LifeCycle benefit. He carried with him a small black-and-white photo of his Uncle Richard, who died of AIDS more than 20 years ago.

For the last two years, Brodt has participated in the annual bike ride to raise money for HIV and AIDS-related services at the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center and the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

“I had this idea of me doing a great thing,” Brodt said, recalling how he felt when he first participated in the bike ride. “I’m helping others.”

But Brodt, once a television producer with a six-figure salary, never thought “others” could include him.

After losing his job and health insurance, Brodt, 37, now relies on the same services that he raised money for in the past for his own HIV treatment.

He was laid off last April. Although he was offered another job in the industry, he decided to take time off to reassess his career. When he was ready to return to work, previous job offers had dried up. By then, he said, people who had provided job leads were losing their own positions.

Savings stretched only so far. Brodt moved into an older, cheaper apartment on the edge of Hollywood and gave up his car. Some weeks, he said, he had less than $20 in his bank account.

After six months, Brodt could no longer afford the $500 monthly payment for COBRA health insurance benefits. His HIV medications could run several thousand dollars a year. He stopped taking them.

It wasn’t long before he started to feel fatigued and depressed.

“I thought, maybe I need to talk to someone . . . Maybe I’m just depressed. I can’t find a job,” Brodt said. “I didn’t really think it had to do with HIV.”

Brodt’s symptoms were a textbook example of what can happen when someone who is HIV positive stops taking medication, said Brad Hare, medical director of UC San Francisco’s Positive Health Program at San Francisco General Hospital. A lapse in treatment can increase the risk of disease progression and medication resistance, he said.
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Gov. signs Colo. benefits bill

(Denver, Colorado) Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter has signed legislation providing health insurance and other benefits to the same-sex partners of Colorado state workers.

Ritter put his pen to the bill without fanfare. Even the bill’s chief sponsor, Rep. Mark Ferrandino (D) said he did not know the governor had signed it …

And the Gay Tax is? $1820 per year

NPR contributor Nancy Goldstein has calculated the “gay tax” — the amount gay couples must spend to receive the same services that married heterosexual couples can count on everyday. In a column, she writes:

The cost of love isn’t an abstract concept in my household: It’s precisely $1,820 per year. That’s the “gay tax” we shell out for me to be on my wife’s health insurance plan, because her company must treat that benefit as additional taxable income.

Goldstein adds that “The media’s primary focus on the morality debate around same-sex marriage means that most of the public, gay or straight, knows little about the very real economic costs of inequality.”

The largest costs of marriage inequality also tend to be the easiest to quantify: Social Security survivor benefits denied, joint tax returns not filed, and many, many other cost savings that most married couples probably don’t even think about.
It’s this side of the gay marriage debate that has led the normally middle-of-the-road financial guru Suze Orman to wade into the debate. See And the Gay Tax is? $1820 per year WalletPop * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual