Feb. 18, 2013 is President’s Day, the day that we honor our great leaders. So, how has President Barack Obama honored our nation’s gay families? Read on to find out.
This past Tuesday, President Obama delivered his “State of the Union” address, a speech that not only applied to a husband and wife raising children, but also to gay spouses, couples, and their familes.
Pre-schoolers. Thirty years ago, pre-school used to be a given for most children, the cost affordable. Now, many families cannot afford to send their children to pre-school, a problem that President Barack Obama addressed in his State of the Union address. Much research shows that gay families are hit even harder financially, many gay spouses not entitled to the same healthcare and tax benefits as straight couples, their dollar stretched to the max. As a whole, lesbian couples are in the lowest income bracket. With all these extra costs, how can some same-sex spouses send their children to pre-school?
The truth is that they cannot. How is President Obama going to fix this? He plans on working with states to ensure that all children have the opportunity to attend pre-school. According to President Obama in his State of the Union address, “the sooner a child begins learning the better he or she does down the road.” Since less than 30 percent of four-years old today are enrolled in a high-quality pre-school, President Obama’s help is needed, especially for gay families and parents who are still fighting for equal rights for themselves and their kids.
High Schoolers.
Gay parents, are you raising a teenager interested in computers or science that wants to work straight out of high school? In President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, Obama stressed the importance of preparing high school students for a high tech economy.
Not every kid wants to go to college and with the skyrocketing cost of tuition not every parent can front the cost of a college education. Many of today’s adults are in student loan debt, which can be higher for gay parents paying more to raise their children.
President Obama has also proposed to help students interested in college by giving more federal aid to certain colleges, accomplished by amending the Higher Education Act. This would ensure that select colleges, institutions that display concern about the value and cost of education will receive more funding.
Minimum Wage. Every parent, gay and straight, who is struggling to feed their families while getting paid peanuts, can hopefully look forward to future changes. President Obama wants to raise the Federal Minimun Wage to nine dollars per hour. This will put more money in parents’ pockets, especially gay parents fighting to raise children in a sometimes unequal financial environment.
RELATED: http://southerntier.wgrz.com/news/families/73114-pentagon-levels-playing-field-gay-military-spouses
This past week, the Pentagon granted same-sex military spouses some of the same rights as heterosexual spouses, including ID cards for the base, emergency medical leave, and assault counseling, just to name a few. In his State of the Union address President Obama showed public support for the Pentagon’s decision, stating that “We will ensure equal treatment for all service members, and equal benefits for families- gay and straight.”
How do you feel about President Barack Obama’s support for gay families? Please leave a comment below.
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