LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION acknowledging the rights of married same-sex
couples to Social Security benefits

WHEREAS, In 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the Social
Security Act into law to protect the elderly from poverty; in 1966,
members of the Armed Forces were accorded the same protection, and in
1983 federal employees were added; and
WHEREAS, The omission of same-sex married partners from the Social
Security Act is being contested through legislation and lawsuits because
the federal government does not recognize marriages between couples of
the same sex; and
WHEREAS, Tens of thousands of legally married same-sex couples, after
paying a lifetime of payroll taxes into a system that provides retire-
ment benefits for married couples, are denied access to retirement bene-
fits, survivor benefits and lump-sum death benefits, simply because they
are married to a person of the same sex; and
WHEREAS, The Social Security benefits denied to married same-sex
couples that are afforded to opposite-sex couples include the spousal
retirement benefit, which allows the spouse with the lower monthly bene-
fit to take their own benefit, or one-half of the higher-earning
spouse's benefit, whichever is higher; with the death of the higher-
earning spouse, the survivor may choose the higher benefits as his or
her own; and upon the death of a spouse, the surviving spouse is given a
$225 lump-sum payment to defer funeral costs; and
WHEREAS, A 2009 study demonstrates a surviving partner in same-sex
couples with average characteristics, including average age, average
income, and average income gap between spouses, will be denied more than
$8,000 a year in Social Security benefits upon the post-retirement death
of the higher-earning spouse, as a result of discrimination; and
WHEREAS, The Governor of the State of New York, David A. Paterson, has
directed all state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed in
other jurisdictions; it is the sense of this Legislative Body that when
individuals pay into a system which provides unequal retirement bene-
fits, there should be parity among all contributors to the Social Secu-
rity System; and
WHEREAS, The omission of same-sex married partners from spousal bene-
fits under the Social Security Act diminishes the receipt by many thou-
sands of New Yorkers of spousal retirement benefits, survivor benefits
and death benefits; this potentially endangers their protection from
loss of residence, health and welfare and raises their need for social
services and other State services that would not be necessary but for
the omission of same-sex couples from coverage under the Social Security
Act; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
acknowledge the rights of married same-sex couples to Social Security
benefits, and to support equal retirement benefits to all contributors;
and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be tran-
smitted to the Center for American Progress, and Michael J. Astrue,
Director of the Social Security Administration.