Gay marriage work still not all done
June 11, 2008 - 2:48 pm
With all the celebratory nuptial anticipated for next week (when same-sex could can begin marrying), a San Jose Mercury-News article outlines 10 ways in which a homosexual marriage will still be a second-class arrangement compared to heterosexual marriage. I was particularly struck by:
- Filling out two sets of tax forms. To calculate state taxes, most people rely on the adjusted gross income calculated on the federal forms. But California will allow same sex couples to file jointly while the feds will require them to file separately. That means gay couples will have to fill out a federal form jointly, transfer the necessary information to their state form, throw away the federal form and fill out a new federal form in which they file separately. As if tax time wasn’t enough of a pain.
- Divorce cases. If couples come to California to marry, but then live in states that forbid gay marriage, they’ll have to come back to California to get a divorce, or at least, a divorce in which both partners have the rights of formerly married people. And the only way to establish residency for a divorce is to live in the state for six months. So they’d have to move here for six months just so they could stop living together.
Gay rights organization have asked people not to file lawsuits challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids federal institutions form recognizing same-sex marriages. They feel such a suit would most likely lead to a setback, rather than a new victory. But it must be hard for same-sex couples, thrilled to finally have some of the rights of straight couples to inch closer to full citizenship without quite getting there.
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so close, and yet so far. GREAT POST NIGGA!