Nov 07 2008
Melissa Etheridge Thinks Gay People Shouldn’t Have to Pay Taxes
Melissa Etheridge had some not-so-kind words to say regarding the recent passing of Proposition 8. It’s amazing to me that we can move forward and elect a black president, yet we’re still treating homosexuals like second-class citizens. Personally, I don’t see why two people who love each other can’t get married. But to let them get married, and then take it back and say it doesn’t count is ridiculous! I hope that, if they’re sticking to this, they at least give them some sort of refund for their wedding expenses! This is 2008 America, all people should be treated as equals!
Here’s what Melissa had to say to the Daily Beast.:
Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other 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 I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We’re gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that’s not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won’t have to pay their taxes either.
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.
…Really?
When did it become okay to legislate morality? I try to envision someone reading that legislation “eliminates the right” and then clicking yes. What goes through their mind? Was it the frightening commercial where the little girl comes home and says, “Hi mom, we learned about gays in class today” and then the mother gets that awful worried look and the scary music plays? Do they not know anyone who is gay? If they do, can they look them in the face and say “I believe you do not deserve the same rights as me”? Do they think that their children will never encounter a gay person? Do they think they will never have to explain the 20% of us who are gay and living and working side by side with all the citizens of California?
I got news for them, someday your child is going to come home and ask you what a gay person is. Gay people are born everyday. You will never legislate that away.
I know when I grew up gay was a bad word. Homo, lezzie, faggot, dyke. Ignorance and fear ruled the day. There were so many “thems” back then. The blacks, the poor … you know, “them”. Then there was the immigrants. “Them.” Now the them is me.
I tell myself to take a breath, okay take another one, one of the thems made it to the top. Obama has been elected president. This crazy fearful insanity will end soon. This great state and this great country of ours will finally come to the understanding that there is no “them”. We are one. We are united. What you do to someone else you do to yourself. That “judge not, lest ye yourself be judged” are truthful words and not Christian rhetoric.
Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it. We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn, Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home. This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, that is not the American way.
Come to think of it, I should get a federal tax break too…
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Social change starts with individuals.
Are Charles Merrill, Melissa Etheridge, and myself (John Bisceglia) the ONLY three (3) citizens of ANY (any) Love-Orientation who are FED UP ENOUGH to take a PUBLIC STAND against multiple immoral, unjust legal discriminations by our government ?
Our government insists on inventing new words….words whose sole purpose is to either hurt us directly [D.O.M.A., D.A.D.T.], or hurt someone’s children [N.O.T.A.D.O.P.T.].
How could we NOT draw a line in the sand?
Treating us as 3rd-class Social-Lepers is a cruel legal prejudice whose repercussions profoundly harm our lives. These laws affect our Family-Children-Home-Career-Property-Security-Beloved…..in other words, our…”Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness”.
I’ve heard from and met 100’s and 100’s of LGBTIQ folks over the past 20 years who silently protest this TAXATION WITHOUT EQUALITY by refusing to pay taxes at all and/or living exclusively in the “underground” (cash) economy, but far too many fear the IRS and refrain from making a public stand.
Would YOU go to a restaurant if YOU had to pay MORE money for the SAME entree other patrons may purchase for LESS?
Would YOU go to a restaurant if YOU had to pay the SAME amount for LESS food? INSANITY.
But I do not blame them one bit for refusing to pay a government that legally treats their families as if they were worthless, disposable, and SUB-human adults and children.
Perhaps not enough people within the LGBTIQ community have experienced the personal and financial devastation that DOES HAPPENS without marriage rights; trauma, cruelty, and pain will get one’s attention very quickly!
Regarding the “motley crew above” (and these are my own speculations and musings) — Charles is at that wonderful stage in life where moral outrage and a desire for equity trumps all fear and reservations. Melissa battled cancer with more courage than most folks can fathom, so I’m certain she simply has the “lesbionic fortitude” to follow her truth; apologies, Melissa…I was grasping for a “testicular fortitude” reference in lieu of saying “you got b*lls”. I’m personally at a stage in life where I have absolutely nothing to lose, so maybe that gives me the “courage” to fight and/or the sufficient “insanity” to do so. I dunno. LOOKS LIKE WE’RE A REALITY SHOW NOW, FOLKS. If I am jailed, there WILL be a hunger strike, but I’m personally having a great deal of difficulty imagining myself allowing A-N-Y-O-N-E to deny me FULL EQUALITY, my right to REFUSE UNFAIR TAXATION, and my right to LIVE FREE UNTIL I AM EQUAL – PERIOD!
I dunno, call me impatient, but I already know I’m equal, America. You are the ones lagging behind the world’s collective intelligence. I also know that:
Some things (like one’s family) are worth fighting for, even if one’s life and freedom are at stake!
If only our loves ones could truly love us without shame.
If they did, we would have our mothers and sisters* standing in solidarity with us, valuing their family more than their property and possessions, and exercising civil disobedience for the sake of TRUTH, JUSTICE, and MORALITY.
Can you imagine if every mother told her government, “Until my son has Marriage Equality, I will refuse to file my income taxes.” Then every son would not feel so alone.
Can you imagine if every daughter told her government, “Until my father has Marriage Equality, I will refuse to file my income taxes.” Then every father would not feel so alone.
Then every LGBTIQ child or parent would know…in their hearts…that their lives are as valuable as the lives of other family members who enjoy the legal benefits, protections, and security of marriage. For I seriously doubt any mother would be silent if her heterosexual sons or daughters were being denied civil marriage based on whom they love. I seriously doubt our mothers and fathers would miss out on seeing their children experience “one of the most important days of their lives”….or at least I hear it is one of the most important days….I wouldn’t know.
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* Fathers and brothers need to speak out also, but since many hetero-men have problems with the “ick factor”, I’m putting my faith in the strength of women to begin this tax revolt against our government’s criminally-insane laws against our FAMILY.
John Bisceglia’s last blog post..Oprah Winfrey
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