From USA Today:
Melissa Etheridge is a Grammy-winning musician, gay-rights activist and committed environmentalist. Now that California voters have made gay marriage unconstitutional, you can also call her a tax protester.
Etheridge, a parent of twins with her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels, says the passage of Proposition 8 seems to mean she and others like her do not have to pay the state Franchise Tax Board.
How come?
Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. ...Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.
Okay, cool I don't mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. ...
Oh and too bad California, I know you were looking forward to the revenue from all of those extra marriages. I guess you will have to find some other way to get out of the budget trouble you are in. ...
Read her complete reaction here.
Here in my big, beautiful, blue California, most of us voted for Barack Obama. At the same time, many Jesus-freaks, rednecks, and--ironically--minorities voted for the elimination of some fellow citizens' rights with Prop 8.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "A right delayed is a right denied."
Too many Californians not only voted to delay and deny; they voted to take away an existing right.
And that just ain't right.
7 comments:
This is the first missed opportunity by Barack Obama to assure equal rights for ALL people. Unfortunately he ran on a platform that did NOT support equal rights in terms of same sex marriage.
It'll be interesting to see how President Obama will differ from candidate Obama on controversial issues.
What about multiple partner marriages, polygamy has been around just as long as same sex marriage, why isn't that legal? Where does it stop. Why isn't tolerance without sanction enough?
Because without sanction (I prefer the term "equal rights)it isn't tolerated and is used as a tool to deny people equality.
And what's wrong with polygamy anyway? Not my cup of tea but who gives a hoot?
I think it stops with the government and voters choosing to allow people marry whom they choose to marry. Marriage is a personal decision and should not be up for government or societal regulation.
The Gay Polygamist
So what now? The majority of voters have decided not to sanciton same sex marriage. The question was on the ballot and it was not endorsed. Can you wait and begin a referendum to have it included on the next ballot? I'm all for polygamy, I wouldn't marry em, but it sure would be fun to have em around. How can you tease someone who is enjoying the company of more than one?
Same-sex marriage and polygamy have as much to do with each other as chocolate and an ironing board, but it is worth noting that Catholics asked their Mormon friends to support Prop 8, and the Morman church funded the CA ballot initiative to a reported tune of $20 million.
Aren't those religious-types supposed to be doing something useful with all that money, like helping to feed the poor?
Bill & Bob or Sally & Cindy's gay marriage has nothing to do with Joe and Sally's, but I guess lots of people can't wrap their minds around that one.
More and more of us are WAKING UP, America. No taxation without equality; simple math.
Now the feds will need to repeal DOMA and DADT, grant us FULL equal rights (including marriage), and begin to start viewing our families - OUR FAMILIES - as the tax-paying contributing members of society we are.....well.....we USED to be!
Because if our HOMES, our FAMILIES, our very BELOVED are not acknowledged and valued as other families are legally, whatever we do outside of that home will never be acknowledged and valued legally, such as adopting children, working without discrimination, or serving openly in the military.
FAMILY FIRST. What is more important than FAMILY?
We owe the IRS absolutely NOTHING until equal. NOTHING. Get it?
This is NOT a test.
This is NOT a debate.
This is NOT a vote.
This is definitely NOT a popularity contest.
This IS justice - GAY TAX PROTEST.
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