Ending the Marriage Penalty

August 21, 2024

“Will you marry me? Imagine that was a question you could never actually answer,” says disability rights activist Imani Barbarin, reflecting on the “marriage penalty.” The term describes the legal rule that, as Sage Howard puts it, “robs disabled people of a chunk of their supplemental security income (SSI) if they decide to get married.” The choice, for many, is as follows: get married to the person you love, or protect your access to health care and SSI.

Amber Weise, who has spinal muscular atrophy, is one of those 8 million people. She and her husband, Devin Weise, chose to get married. After Devin got a raise, Amber lost her SSI benefits and homecare, as Devin’s income and assets are considered part of her income. In an interview with Sara Luterman, Weise noted that she can’t use the bathroom without assistance, so she “stopped drinking water in an effort to not have to go while he was gone.”

Weise is not alone – over 7 million people who receive SSI and an additional 1 million who qualify for Disabled Adult Child (DAC) benefits may face the marriage penalty, known by some advocates as one of “final frontiers of marriage equality.”

We at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation firmly oppose the marriage penalty. We join the scores of activists, like Barbarin, who recognize the penalty for what it is: a cruel, unjust, and nonsensical attack on our rights to sexual freedom and autonomy.