This month, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors will consider a proposal that would level the playing field for same-sex couples who are city employees. Under the plan by District 2 Supervisor Mark Farrell, the city would cover the tax costs LGBT city employees incur for their same-sex spouses or partner's health care coverage provided by the city's Health Services System. Referred to as "grossing up," the move is needed because the federal Defense of Marriage Act does not recognize the marriage of same-sex couples and, as a result, LGBT city workers face a federal income tax penalty when they add their spouse or partner to their city-provided health care coverage. As we reported last week, the Internal Revenue Service treats any employer contribution for a same-sex partner or spouses' health insurance premium as taxable income, unlike straight married couples.
Under Farrell's ordinance, the city would pay 20 percent of the portion of the employee's health insurance premiums attributable to the same-sex spouse or partner as determined by the Health Services System. Farrell told us last week that the remedy, currently used in some form by some businesses and the cities of Cambridge, Massachusetts and Hallandale Beach, Florida, would go a long way toward San Francisco treating all of its workers equally.
"It's an issue I never knew existed until about a year and a half ago," Farrell, who is straight, said. "I view this as economic discrimination."
It was while he was discussing various issues with Google that he came across the tax inequity. Google, it turns out, has offered the benefit to its same-sex employees and helped Cambridge develop its program.
The board's two gay members, Supervisors David Campos and Scott Wiener, are co-sponsors of Farrell's plan. Wiener called the proposal "long overdue" and praised Farrell, a straight colleague, for his "strong support of the LGBT community."
Farrell said that so far, there is support for his ordinance on the board. Just recently, Supervisor Carmen Chu asked to be added as a co-sponsor, he said.
"From my perspective, San Francisco has a long-standing practice of being a leader on LGBT rights and this is another step along the line," Farrell said.
It's important to realize that this isn't some sort of added financial bonus for gay city workers with partners or spouses. If adopted, it will be an annual payment that will put LGBT employees on par with their straight counterparts. This is just one of many injustices of DOMA, and the city's plan to ease the tax inequality for such workers is long overdue.
Of course, if the U.S. Supreme Court rules later this year that DOMA is unconstitutional, then same-sex partnered employees will get the more than 1,000 benefits currently denied them, including not being taxed on health care premiums for their partners. But until that happens, Farrell's legislation is needed and should be approved by the board.
Finally, we join with Wiener in thanking Farrell for being a strong ally of the LGBT community. There aren't that many LGBT voters in his district, and when he ran for office Farrell did not have any major LGBT support. Neither this publication nor the two LGBT political clubs endorsed him. There really isn't much in this for him. Yet he saw an injustice and set out to correct it. For that, we think he deserves a shout out.
Distractions cost 49ers
Sunday's Super Bowl was disappointing for San Francisco 49ers fans, as the team came up short in the Baltimore Ravens' 34-31 victory. But for the LGBT community, the week leading up to the football championship game can be seen as a victory even in the fallout from an anti-gay rant by one of the 49er players and the distancing of two others from the team's groundbreaking It Gets Better video.
As the world knows by now, 49ers defensive player Chris Culliver decided that to get his 15 minutes of fame, he had to spew homophobic trash talk, and a shock radio jock provided the perfect opportunity. "I don't do the gay guys, man," Culliver said. "We don't got no gay people on the team, they got to get up out of here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff. Nah ... can't be ... in the locker room, man. Nah." The 49ers' front office immediately said that it rejected Culliver's remarks and he issued a garbled apology, followed a day later by a more coherent statement. And it turns out that Culliver has a gay relative, Andrew Brown, who was one of the directors of Word is Out, a 1977 gay documentary. Just before the Super Bowl, it was reported that Culliver would be working with the Trevor Project, a Los Angeles-based organization for LGBT youth. Team owner Jed York praised the announcement, telling the San Francisco Chronicle that he hoped Culliver "will live up to his comments of wanting to expand his horizons, wanting to get to know the LGBT community."
In the second bit of news, players Ahmad Brooks and Isaac Sopoaga distanced themselves from an anti-bullying It Gets Better video they had made with teammates Donte Whitner and Ricky Jean Francois last summer. They claimed they didn't know it was a video aimed at LGBT youth, and thought it was a general anti-bullying video. Dan Savage, who created the It Gets Better project following a spate of gay suicides, promptly removed it from the site.
We expect the 49ers to make another anti-gay bullying video and to make sure that the players know exactly what they are participating in. The team has a sizable number of LGBT fans and, for now anyway, plays in San Francisco. It's kind of ridiculous that the players chose Super Bowl week to make their comments, further ratcheting up the anti-gay rhetoric when the team should have been focused on football.
It is especially ironic for 49ers fans that Ravens' linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo is publicly supportive of the LGBT community and marriage equality – and has been since 2009. He had planned to use the Super Bowl media frenzy to speak out in support of marriage equality and against bullying, and his support was noted by media outlets that were covering Culliver. The contrast was stark. On Monday, a day after winning the Super Bowl, Ayanbadejo continued talking about equal rights issues with Russell Simmons.
The larger victory for the LGBT community, however, is that with Culliver's diatribe, it put the issue of gays in sports back on the front burner at the biggest sporting event in the country. It focused national attention on homophobia. The 49ers organization made it clear that it strongly supports tolerance in and out of the locker room. The reality is that it's just a matter of time until an active player in one of the men's major professional sports comes out – a topic that was also discussed last week.
Homophobia, in and out of sports, continues to exist and there's no sense in sugar-coating it. Flare-ups like Culliver's provide a teachable moment and allow the public to see that his view is not shared by his colleagues.
On the field, the Ravens provided some karmic revenge. Culliver was beat badly by the Ravens offense at one point, resulting in a touchdown. Maybe next time he'll keep his comments to football.