Melissa Etheridge On Prop 8: You Can Forget My Taxes, California

The Daily Beast:

Singer Melissa Etheridge rails against the passage of the gay-marriage ban in California--and she won't be paying the state a dime.

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.

Read the whole story: The Daily Beast

Comments

[JohnBisceglia]

The U.S. government crossed a VERY serious line with PROP 8. Children's sense of safety and belongingness were and have been threatened in California and beyond.

Regardless of THIS particular fight, there are too many fights on too many fronts to conquer piecemeal. NOW is the time to DRAW A NEW LINE in the sand, and demand from President Obama and our representatives FULL EQUALITY on all fronts. We are EQUAL SOULS in HUMAN BODIES.

There are countless stories of Americans whose suffering needs to be addressed in this fight. Marriage laws were put in place many years ago in order to protect individuals and their families; if they were not necessary they would not exist for heterosexuals. When these laws are NOT in place for ALL of us, horrible, horrible suffering occurs.

So Americans want to continue denying us what they have already deemed as essential. And many want us to wait 2, 5, 10, 20, or 30 more years, depending on the "civil right". I personally have a HUGE problem with that.

As Americans can't we agree that there are MANY other important issues to address (like the economy, health care, poverty & homelessness, Iraq/Afghanistan), and solving those problems is more urgent than having "EQUALITY ISSUES" tie up the courts for another 30+ years?

Will you join me on April 15th, 2009, and inform the government that WE are eager to be included in the federal tax base as soon as THEY include us in society's laws?

[bontongirl]

Marriage is between a man and a woman. Civil unions are available to same sex couples and guarantee couples legal rights. I am not anti-gay and have gay relatives and friends. They know my position and respect my opinion. Just like I respect theirs. A vote was taken and the majority won. This hasn't changed the feelings toward your partner or your future plans so get over it and continue living your life.

[JohnBisceglia]

Melissa will discuss her TAX PROTEST on Oprah FRI - watch it! More discussion in the media coming soon.........

[TheMediaRanger]

Man, I'm screwed. I've been trying to avoid state income taxes, but nothing has worked. Then I came upon Melissa's article, and I figured "Hey, I can be gay." That's what they say, it's a choice thing. You want to be pervy, you live with the consequences. Fine by me. But it's not working. There isn't a gay dude west of the Sierra Nevadas that has bought into my act. It's like they all got a head full of Palin, and now they don't know WHO the hell they are. But they know I'm not what they're looking for.

Anyone who helped Prop 8 pass is a leech.

[LollieDotCom]

If California had been papered with this before November 4th, Prop 8 would never have passed.

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pdfs/mildred_loving-statement.pdf

Mildred Loving's full statement about freedom to marry. Everyone should read it. If you don't cry when you read it, you're not a human being. Please use your favorite social sites to buzz it up.

There is only one cure for ignorance - and that's education.

http://www.freedomtomarry.org/pdfs/mildred_loving-statement.pdf

[bartonfink]

the best idea I've heard on how to respond to this issue. no equality, no tax contribution. it's the new civil disobedience.

[jwatso7]

I love Melissa Etheridge! This is dead-on. I wish her and millions of other gays and lesbians success in fighting this form of state sponsored discrimination.

[hopefullee]

I am a straight woman, and so technically, this does not affect me personally, though I am extremely upset a about seeing such injustice in this day and age.

That said, I am a huge fan of Melissa, both as a musician and person. I think that withholding state tax is terrific way to protest this horrible discrimination. I hope it catches on, and turns in to a mass protest. It's especially appropriate given that it was a tax-exempt church that pushed for this in the first place.

[JohnBisceglia]

Hopefullee - I'm afraid it DOES affect you. If you are a WA state tax payer, you had to see over $40,000 of the state's tax revenue go directly to ME. Why? I had a divorce without legal protection. Guess who gets to pay? You. Now multiply that by a 50% divorce rate (since gays are just as bad as heterosexuals when it comes to marriage), and consider your own state.

I call it the GAY DIVORCE WELFARE PROGRAM. I have a problem with this and I'm NOT the one paying. It is economic insanity.

[rmetz74]

Claims about the gay divorce rate are ridiculous. In order to be a meaningful statistic, they'd have to have a decent sampling, and given that gay marriage has only been legal in a few states for a few years, that's impossible.

I just did a search, and got hits as varied as a 50% divorce rate within 8 years in Sweden, and a 1% rate in the UK.

Sounds to me like the legal problem in your case isn't California's marriage law - it's Washington's tax law.

[Mattie]

I agree that gays should be allowed the same rights as everyone, and it's ridiculous it's even an issue. However, if we all stopped paying taxes when we are discriminated against the States would be broke. Women are discriminated against everyday, so what we don't pay taxes. I don't think so!

[jrockbg]

My understanding is that California allows civil unions. I don't see the beef. Marriage is between a man and a woman. That's the way it was set up. If you want two women or two men or three or four of any combination you like-then you call it something else. I'm not trying to get religious but its hard to avoid because marriage is a religious institution.

Now if there are rights that are restricted because California doesn't recognize gay marriage, I got your back. But otherwise, let's not protest because the government won't recognize your apple as an orange.

[PoliticalBoy20]

It's not a religious institution, in the historical or present day sense. What you're saying is you don't think the same word should apply, for religious reasons. Think about what you're saying a bit longer and maybe come up with secular reasons.

[wanked]

There are many athiests and agnostics that DONT CARE to be governed by religious beliefs either.

Isnt it beyond hypocritical to deny others the same rights that we treasure. AMERICA...its time to come clean. WE ARE ALL EQULALS . Its not a difficult concept. INDIVISABLE with liberty and justice for ALL!!!

[hopefullee]

@ jrockbg

"Marriage is between a man and a woman. That's the way it was set up." That's the point. Marriage is a social construct. It is what we say it is. Definitions have changed in the past and will again in the future.

Apart from that, it's illogical to argue that marriage is a religious institution when a religious ceremony without a state marriage license is not legally valid, while atheists who marry in a civil ceremony with a state marriage license *are* recognized as being married. Marriage is an institution of the state, not the church. The religious "blessing" is optional.

[HHarvey]

How can it be a religious institution if you are not married in the church? I am a heterosexual female and have been married for over twenty years and did not get married in a church. An ordained minister licensed by the State of California married us. With this thinking I would not therefore be married if you were basing this as a religious ceremony only. What term would the Yes on 8 people like to use? What would make you happy? Please let me know so I can tell everyone if I am married or not or maybe I have been in a civilized union for 8 years. And for the record, ALL rights for gays in civil unions are not equal to married couples yet. There is still work to be done.

[LesserOf2Evils]

jrockbg, I just had a quick look at your profile.
You seem like a nice guy, but remember, we are all affected by propaganda. Most Americans have had a lifetime of indoctrination against gay people, and against all sorts of "minorities" in different periods of our history.
So using your profile consider this analogous comment......

Your mother is free, your father is a slave so he needs to be sent back to captivity. I don't see your beef because that is the way it is set up. I'm not trying to get religious, but it is hard to avoid because slavery is approved by God and my church, and most churches in America.

......at one point in time my ridiculous argument was the view of most of the country.
But people protested in a whole variety of ways, lunch counter sit-ins, not going to the back of the bus, rioting,holding back taxes and all sorts of methods.
And because those people did all that, all those years ago, your mother and father were free to fall in love and make babies. Now here you are.

As for apples and oranges, they are both food, both grow on trees, both are products of nature, and my world is better with both of them in it.

[BlackJAC]

The phrases "civil union" and "domestic partnership" strike me as political correctness, since it's merely a semantic difference for the same concept in order to make a subgroup feel better about reality.

And marriage is not a religious institution. Some religions don't have a marriage rite.

And don't even think about breaking out the dictionary: a high school friend of mine helped write a new edition of Webster's, and he's on record as saying that defining a word for the dictionary is based on studying its contextual usage.

[psbintl]

Why are AAs being blamed for this?! AAs make up a very small percentage of Californians!

I am AA and I DID NOT vote for this ban and I know plenty of other AAs who also did not vote for this ban!

Why are AAs being made the scapegoat for this ban?!

[AnotherTry]

If AA had voted with the same margins as hispanics and whites, the measure would not have passed. Those are the facts. Sorry if you don't like how your community voted, but there it is.

[psbintl]

I do not identify "my community" with any particular race or creed of people! The community I live in is diverse and a wonderful representation of America as a whole.

Just because a person's skin is dark does not mean their community only represents one group of people!

[HHarvey]

psbintl.... I understand how you feel but you should know that in the small town up north where I live there were two AA women who were actively signing up people to get this measure on the ballot. They had Prop 8 and Prop 4 they were petitioning for. They were very nice, but I believe they were based with a religious group and I didn't sign their petition but I think many people did. It is my understanding that many AA and latinos are very religious groups. I live in a 50% hispanic town and can say they also made up a big percentage of the voting block of the Yes on 8 too.

[Deb909]

I think we are forgetting about all the other states that have banned gay marriage - we seem to be focusing only on California - Florida and Arizona voters also discriminated against gays. I say we organize a march on the capitol - who's with me?

[HHarvey]

sign me up!

[MNmommy]

You Go Girl!

I'm telling you, I'm pretty disgusted about this. For any minority to further oppress another is incredibly disappointing.

[psbintl]

Why are AAs being blamed for this?! AAs make up a very small percentage of Californians!

I am AA and I DID NOT vote for this ban and I know plenty of other AAs who also did not vote for this ban!

Why are AAs being made the scapegoat for this ban?!

[Speakupper]

Dear Huffpo, How about a Prop 8 Response Big News page so we can find all related articles in one place? Thanks in advance.

[hopefullee]

I second that request. This needs to stay in the news if the fight is going to gain any traction.

[notfooled]

In light of this historic election, I was also frustrated and disheartened to learn Prob 8 passed and have been thinking about "why" all week - listening to and reading comments by people who supported it and my feeling is that the big mistake by the glbt community is that our rights can be based on the rights of other minorities, but if you check history, each group has had to fight independently for their piece of the American pie. We can not assume that just because other minorities understand the fight, they will join the fight. This has not been proven in history. So, we must be more organized and prepared to stand on our own merits. We need to understand the arguments against our rights from every angle in order to educate people why those arguments are invalid, instead of trying to shout over them. WE need to frame the discussion, rather than letting religion, homophobia, or any other opposition define who we are, what we deserve, and what we represent in society. Most of all, we need to ensure that those who support us are supported and safe to do so - thus we need to avoid casting broad brush accusations and condemnations.

[numbnuts]

Is it true that the Mormon church and Mit Romney had something to do with this?

[BSERIUS]

not as much as African, Asian, Hispanic and countless others. Liberal elitists though can't face the fact that those they thought were under their control had the audacity to think on their own .. Of course they can't be called bigots so attack the church instead.

[walk0nwalls]

45% of all the money funding Yes on 8 came from the LDS Church

We'll attack when they strike first

[rmetz74]

Let's clarify that a bit.

Yes it's true that the Mormon church has a lot to do with Prop 8's passing.

It's also true that record minority voter turnout had an impact (though I don't know about Asian... And "countless others"? Do you know what "countless" means?) And plenty of us are calling them bigots, because that's what they are.

Here's something else that had an impact... California liberals gave everything they could to Obama, because while we'll get the gay marriage issue back on the ballot in 2 years, Obama was a one-time opportunity.

As for thinking we controlled them, that's a heck of a paranoid fantasy you've got going... And your implication that only "liberal elitists" care about equal rights is absurd.

So back to reality... In 2010, assuming the lawsuits don't take care of it before then, gay marriage in California will be back on the ballot with the full financial support of Californians, we'll be better prepared for the Utah Mormon onslaught, and maybe minorities will take steps toward learning that bigotry is bigotry, regardless of the perpetrators or targets.

[HHarvey]

Hey BSERIUS..... it didn't pass with a huge margin in CA so if you take a percentage of people who didn't vote in this state I would likely say this measure has actually split our state in half. Last time we voted on this measure, maybe your not from CA so you don't remember, the measure passed with a bigger margin with the losing end at 23% so you can say it lost but the way I see it we have certainly achieved a greater understanding for gay rights in our state based on this year's numbers. I think I will go make a donation now to the Separation of Church and State group.