Despite these radical societal changes, the Social Security system holds to the same sex-biased assumptions. Since Social Security is the sole income source for many older women, the retrogressive policies are often devastating to women. Lesbian and Gay Rights . Currently lesbians and gay men are discriminated against in areas as basic as employment, parenting, marriage and housing rights. Numerous court decisions demonstrate the need to establish a constitutional guarantee of rights regardless of sexual orientation.
Many cases illustrate the pervasive discrimination against lesbians and gay men.
One of the most plainly egregious and unfair is the case of a lesbian mother in Pensacola, Florida. Mary Ward lost custody of her daughter to John Ward, her ex-husband and a convicted murderer. The judge made the custody award to John Ward despite his conviction in a brutal murder. In 1974, John Ward shot and killed his first wife in the parking lot of a Pensacola restaurant. Witnesses said he had been talking with his wife when he shot her six times.