Category Archives: Equality

The Pansy President

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Bear with me. I have two stories to tell that will intersect when I’m done.

Part 1: Today we visited Wheatland, President James Buchanan’s home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Some historians believe that Buchanan was our first gay president.

Today we visited Wheatland, President James Buchanan's home.

Today we visited Wheatland, President James Buchanan’s home.

There was no mention of that speculation on our home tour but a piece by Katherine Cooney for Time, explores that possibility in detail.

Buchanan was the only president who never married. For many years he shared a home with William Rufus King, an Alabama senator. Their relationship was reportedly so close that Andrew Jackson referred to them as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy”. When King moved to Paris to become the American ambassador to France, Buchanan wrote of his profound loneliness.

Was President Buchanan gay? His fashion forward hairdo might be an indicator. On the other hand he was opposed to dancing and didn't allow it in the White House—a contraindication.

Was President Buchanan gay? His fashion forward hairdo might be an indicator. On the other hand he was opposed to dancing and didn’t allow it in the White House—a contraindication.

Part 2: Wheatland was about a half hour drive from our current RV Park in Hershey. Two and a half hours in the other direction, remembrance ceremonies are being held today at the Flight 93 National Memorial. Passengers aboard that flight are believed to have stormed the cockpit when they learned of the other 9/11 attacks, bringing the plane down in a Pennsylvania field, instead of the hijackers’ intended target—the U.S. Capitol.

One of those thought to have fought back against the terrorists was Mark Bingham. Bingham was gay. I feel compelled to point this out, because today contemporary equivalents of “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy” are still with us: “Pansy,” “light in the loafers,” and much worse.

I've never understood why pansy is used as a homophobic slur. Sure, it's flashy, but also remarkably hearty and resilient.

I’ve never understood why pansy is used as a homophobic slur. Sure, it’s flashy, but also remarkably hearty and resilient.

Mark Bingham was a hero—not a pansy.

How SCOTUS Saved Me $10,000

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BCCardWe’re working on our taxes for last year, and while it’s not deductible, I went ahead and totaled up my health insurance costs from 2013.  For about the last decade I’ve been one of the millions of Americans without company sponsored health insurance, so I’ve had an individual Blue Cross policy.

And for the last several years, my premiums have gone up $100 a month. Not a year. A month. With a $2800 deductible. Even my doctor was shocked, given my relatively minor health issues. Last year my premiums totaled $10,185.70. Just for me.

So among the things Dave and I were celebrating when we married back in July, was the fact that, thanks to the Supreme Court, I could then be added to his excellent health plan for retired federal workers. Under which BOTH of us would be covered, without a deductible, for $200 a month.

We filled out the forms, faxed in our marriage certificate and waited. For six months. While the feds tried to figure out just what to do with these newly recognized same-gender couples. (Six more premiums for me—do the math.)

But at long last the card has arrived.  And I handed it over to the pharmacy tech the other day to update my account.

“What’s your relationship to Mr. Johnson?” he asked, noting Dave’s name on the card. And for the first time with a stranger, I smiled and answered, “I’m his spouse.”