When it comes to marriage, the word itself is a powerful validation of our relationships. But, when it comes to the law, there’s a lot more than just that. In fact, there’s over 1,000 federal rights bestowed by a marriage that isn’t covered under the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act.” And as one of those who is in one of the marriages covered by DOMA, let me tell you, it is a huge headache come tax time. But, you don’t need to take my word for it, here’s a story from the New York Times website:
Gay couples have complicated financial lives, and preparing tax returns is no exception.
Since the federal government doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage, gay couples who are living in states that do recognize their various legal unions must still file separate federal returns. That requires more record-keeping and planning than their heterosexual counterparts — and oftentimes, gay couples will have to pay more to an accountant to prepare their returns.
To just file my taxes, I have to first create a tax return as an individual for the federal government. As far as they concerned, my husband is a stranger under the law. So, after I submit that tax return, I then have to create a fake federal tax return to file, pretending that I actually filed as married. I then have to add my state tax return and then ship that whole thing off to the Franchise Tax Board.
Of course, that’s far from it. Along the way of that process, I have to deal with pitfalls, strange questions that aren’t answered by TurboTax or any major tax software, and then try to find answers online or from a friend who has some history with tax law. Not only is it offensive to be denied the name marriage, it’s also expensive and headache producing.
While the Prop 8 folks argue extensive their tired old theories, there is no excuse for this federal discrimination. DOMA must be repealed. Completely. Marriage is a function of state law, and the federal government should recognize all marriages ordained by the state. Furthermore, the federal government, even if it isn’t so “brave” as to call marriage “marriage” for everybody, at least need to recognize unions that already exist.
We’ve been doing some coverage of the big conservative shindig, CPAC, over the last few days. From the right-wing leadership, you get garbage like their crazy statements about don’t ask don’t tell that imply that American troops are less professional than many Europeans. And then, of course, you have this idiot.
But, when it comes down to it, the grassroots of the conservative movement seems to have bigger concerns on their plate. In the annual straw poll, which is traditionally a big focus of the media for the presidential implications, only 1% of the audience said that they consider “stopping gay marriage” to be one of their top two priorities.
While the leadership of the anti-marriage movement has forced the Republican party and the conservative organizations to be zealots on this issue, it just doesn’t rank to most Americans. This is the truly one of the most right wing groups in the country that we are talking about here, and they simply don’t care about “stopping gay marriage.”
Of course, some of the marriage people are upset because Ron Paul, the libertarian anti-government Congressman from Texas was out in force at this straw poll. They point to club-packing of sorts by Paul and his supporters, but more critically, they point to this figure as evidence showing this was an outlier:
Granted, students comprised 48 percent of the sample — how else could Paul have won? — but that might be less significant as evidence that the poll’s an outlier than as evidence that it may not be such an outlier a few years from now. (More than half the votes cast in the poll were by those 25 years old or younger.) (Hot Air)
This was a voting body made up of the future of the conservative movement, such as it is. I’ll leave the other political ramifications of the CPAC conference for other blogs. But the future, for at least marriage equality, holds great promise.
I have always found “hate the sin, love the sinner” to be one of the more demeaning slurs against the LGBT community. While the anti-gay folks like to consider this very thoughtful, it is belittling of our lives and how we choose to live them. It invalidates our entire lives as the sum total of our “sin.”
As luck (or a conference organizer with a sense of humor) would have it, GOProud’s booth at the Conservative Political Action Conference is located two booths down from the National Organization for Marriage — opposite-sex marriage, that is. When CNN started shooting a story on the gay Republican group’s experience at CPAC on Thursday, the NOM delegation sent someone over to shake hands, suggest a beer summit, and smile for the cameras.
After the CNN segment ran Friday, however, NOM, under pressure, felt compelled to blast out a statement that fell well short of an invitation to guzzle some suds. “We welcome everyone’s right to participate in the democratic process, but we have a message for GOProud on marriage: If you try to elect pro-gay-marriage Republicans, we will Dede Scozzafava them. The majority of Americans, and the vast majority of Republicans, support marriage as the union of husband and wife, and NOM is here to make sure these voters and their voices are heard loud and clear,” the statement reads.
Say it to our faces, GOProud Executive Director Jimmy LaSalvia said. We’re standing right next to you.
Maggie Gallagher and NOM like to pretend that they are very thoughtful and considerate. At debates, she likes to say that if they could get in a room, they would be able to solve this issue. But when you consider that Gallagher and her ilk thinks that our whole community is nothing but a bunch of sinners. And as soon as she can talk about you behind your back, she will.
The heart of the matter is that the rights of our community should not be judged based upon what Maggie thinks or believes, but only based upon the law and full equality under said law.
Sometimes, you must simply sit back and marvel at the homophobia. I mean, really, sit back and marvel. I mean, I wouldn’t have thought of this little gem to teach hatred:
A Ugandan pastor is showing gay pornography at church to try to garner support for a proposed law that would impose the death penalty for some gays.
Martin Ssempa showed the videos to some 100 adults during a church service Wednesday in Uganda’s capital.
He says he plans to show the films regularly to educate churchgoers on gay sex and also plans to show the videos to parliamentarians. He says some churchgoers cried after watching the videos, which he said he downloaded from the Internet. (AP)
Interesting that at the same time he showed the gay porn he didn’t go ahead and show any straight porn. Porn is porn folks. It’s gritty, it can be messy, but honestly, isn’t that the point? Gay porn is no more representative of gay relationships than straight porn is of straight relationships.
While I wouldn’t want to be caught at a convention such as CPAC, I understand that there are a few members of the LGBT community who would like to share in the conservative movement’s big love-in. Well, I wish them the best, but nobody should be the subject of this kind of abuse. These are sincere (I assume) conservatives who simply disagree with you on an issue of social conservatism. Defining a person by one act, one relationship, or one aspect of who they are is an affront to both morality and common decency.
And so to the gentleman who made Sorba’s “enemies list.” Savor it, being on that list certainly can’t hurt.
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