San Diego Queer Groups Fight Proposition B, the Risky
Retirement Initiative
With less than a month
until the San Diego primary election, Queer groups in San Diego are mobilizing
to speak out against the Risky Retirement Initiative (Proposition. B), which eliminates
a guaranteed retirement for city workers and replaces that guarantee with a
401(k) for all new hires (except police officers) and proposes a five-year
freeze to the portion of current workers’ salaries used to calculate future
pensions. Canvass for a Cause and San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality are
working to spread the word about how Proposition B hurts the Queer community.
“San Diego city workers
will be left without any safety net for their golden years, they are already
locked out of social security and Proposition B will take away the guarantee of
an income during their retirement and instead let the fate of our elderly rest
in the hands of Wall Street Bankers, a very risky thing to do,” states Rachel
Scoma, co-Executive Director of Canvass for a Cause.
“Like many laws that are
bad for workers, this law is specifically harmful to Gay couples who are not
allowed to marry,” remarked Jersey Deutsch, Director of Programs for Canvass
for a Cause. “Because Gay couples can’t get married in the majority of states,
including California, they do not get certain protections like federal social
security survivorship benefits. So in addition to having no safety net of their
own, Gay city workers can’t even rely on the social security of their lifelong
partner if and when that partner dies — a problem not faced by heterosexual
couples. Proposition B leaves Gay couples more vulnerable than anyone else.
This is not the right way to bring about positive pension reform and we can do
better for our community”
For Canvass for a Cause
and San Diego Alliance for Marriage Equality (S.A.M.E.), this fight against
Proposition B is essential. ”Right now San Diegans believe the only opposition
to Proposition B comes from ‘big, labor, but that’s just not true,” said Sean
Bohac, a member of S.A.M.E. and one of the defendants in the city’s case
against the Equality 9. “The LGBT [Queer] community is rallying to defeat this
law because it shows how the denial of marriage equality has far reaching
implications, leaving our families, once again, in the most vulnerable
position.”
Members and organizations
from the San Diego Queer community will be holding a rally and press conference
to send this message to San Diego voters and ask them to vote No on Proposition
B, the Risky Retirement Initiative on June 5, 2012. The press conference will
be held May 30, 2012, 11 to 11:30 a.m., at the Joyce Beers Community Center in
the Uptown District mall in Hillcrest. For more information, including
directions, visit the Canvass for a Cause Web site at www.canvassforacause.org
