Taxes and Rights

DOMA must go.

The fact that my tax burden is HIGHER because my partner is another female just frosts my jets. You see, my partner makes significantly less than I do. But because of the bigot's laws, even if we could marry in my state (California, where the bigots "amended" the state constitution to enshrine bigotry in it), I would still be fucked over on the Federal taxes.

You see, we don't really give a rat's ass about what your religion says about gay or straight marriage. Some religions won't marry people from two different denominations, much less religions. Do you want us to enshrine that into law too? After all, religion is actually a choice, unlike homosexuality.

This country has freedom of religion. That means that you don't get to force other people to practice your religion, or abide by its tenets or dogma, and they don't get to do it to you. You don't want gay marriage? Then don't marry someone of your own sex!

What the fight is really over is religious privilege - the ability to make the "norms" of your religion binding on everyone, so you and your fellow believers get all the perks and financial advantages, while we pay more for the privilege of being considered less.

I want all of you anti-gay marriage people to do a little exercise: take your favorite piece of anti-same sex propaganda, and substitute "gay" and "homosexual" with Christian and Jew, or maybe Baptist and Catholic. Then remember, if a Christian wants to marry a Jew, or a Buddhist, it's illegal - they can just find another Christian to marry - never mind that who they love is the Jew or the Buddhist.

When it comes to marriage, conformity with someone else's legally imposed religious custom takes a priority over actual love. At least, that is how the bigots paint it - unnatural, perversion, blah, blah.

I guess my biggest grief comes from this: How in the fuck does someone else marrying someone they love, who happens to be of the same sex, damage your marriage in any way? Is it something you feel you're missing out on? Do you fear other people being able to pay less takes by filing joint, or getting benefits on a pre-tax basis for their spouse, or what? Why is my happiness damaging to you?

Being gay isn't contagious, people. You can't teach it in schools - we've taught straightness in schools for generations, and still gays crop up (and suffer) in school - so that's another less bit of silliness for the bigots to cling to.

Why in the living hell would anyone choose to be gay? Seriously, it can get you killed in some places, and screwed over in other ways in the oh, so progressive (not) US. Did you haters choose to be straight? Oh, you say, "it's natural", you've "always" been that way. Guess what? GLBT have too. From very young, even when it hurts, even in spite of the confusion and pain.

But yeah, domestic partnerships and civil unions don't get federal tax benefits, social security survivors benefits, or immunity from having to testify against a partner in court. Hetero marriages do. Add in the automatic right to make medical decisions for a partner, plus a bunch of inheritance stuff, and the disadvantages add up fast.

Even those gays who can marry are screwed by the (probably very unconstitutional) DOMA on the federal level, or when they move. How would you like your fucking marriage not recognized in another state, or by the federal government? That's what DOMA means.

On the California Prop 8 insanity, has anyone really thought about what the bigots have unleashed? Anything, and I mean anything that is a "choice" (even if only to some pseudo-scientist with a suspect agenda) or able to be changed can be cause for banning marriage in the state!!

Anyone want to start a California initiative to prevent people from two different religions from marrying? I'm sure that the spiritual strife causes a lot of divorce. Religion is definitely a choice, after all. "Only marriage between two people of the same religious denomination is valid or recognized in California." Nifty, huh?

What? You say some shit about the "equal protection" clause? Oh, but that's already been nullified by Prop 8.

Hell, I bet we could do something about people who come here and marry a citizen - just make it illegal. Save the taxpayers lots of money - just say to marry a citizen you have to be a citizen.

Who cares if the person you love is from, say, Canada - they'll have to get their citizenship before California will recognize their marriage. "Only marriage between two US citizens is valid or recognized in California." See how that works?

If Prop 8 is upheld, then these would be legal too. After all, you can change your religion, and you can change your citizenship status (it just takes a long time without the marriage beforehand.)

Or how about this - people that are overweight, or smoke, have persistent body odor, or who have mental illnesses or addictions - can be banned from marrying, too. After all, they can diet, quit, bathe or "get over it with the help of God", right? So it's a "choice", thus subject to discrimination.

Since "equal protection" no longer applies in California, or the rest of the United States for that matter (and won't while DOMA stands), we can make all kinds of laws based on voluntary and involuntary "differences" from what's "normal".

So if you are anti gay marriage, don't worry - there are plenty of "choices" that you've made that can be used to discriminate against you, too. All we have to do is take our propaganda from your play book, and it'll pass.

Then we'll see who the real hypocrites are.