California’s gay marriage ruling signals next step for both sides

The next campaign in the gay-marriage fight has already begun.

Less than 90 minutes after the California Supreme Court released its ruling on Proposition 8, both sides had already e-mailed supporters soliciting funds anticipating a new ballot measure on gay marriage that could reach voters in 2010.

 ”We don’t have time to mourn the failure of the state court to restore marriage equality to California,” wrote Rick Jacobs, chairman of the Courage Campaign, in a 10:15 a.m. e-mail. He added that it was “time to go on offense” and asked supporters to send money for pro-gay-marriage advertising that could begin airing on television later this week.

Ron Prentice, chairman of ProtectMarriage.com, waited until a little after 11 a.m. to hit up his supporters, writing: “We must turn our attention to protecting this victory . . . and must raise several million dollars to get our message out. . . . Please click here to make a contribution.”

In addition to buying advertising on TV, both sides are also hiring community organizers who will help supporters reach out to sway individual voters.

Among those prepared to keep fighting is Bill Welsh, senior pastor of Refuge Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach. An ardent supporter of Proposition 8, Welsh spent hours on the street with a sign reading “Marriage is one man and one woman” and leading his congregation of 1,500 in gathering signatures to get the measure on the November ballot.

On Tuesday, he said he felt “pleased that they upheld the will of the people, especially in the increasingly lax moral climate that we’re in.” But he added that it would be “foolish to think this will be the end of the battle.

“I don’t have any desire to get in a violent war with anyone over this, but we won’t back down,” he said.

On the other side, gay rights activists, who had widely expected to lose, indicated after the ruling that next time they intend to be far more inclusive in their quest to sway Californians. During the last election, the No on 8 campaign was sharply criticized for not reaching out enough to black and Latino voters.

Accordingly, gay activists summoned the media to the Lucy Florence Cultural Center in Leimert Park in the heart of Los Angeles’ black community for a news conference chaired by Ron Buckmire, an African American mathematics professor who is also president of the Barbara Jordan/Bayard Rustin Coalition, a black gay rights group in Los Angeles.

Then they made sure that Southern California’s first post-decision protest rally was held in East Los Angeles, in the region’s historic center of Latino culture.

At that event, more than 100 people gathered outside the L.A. County office building on Cesar Chavez Avenue chanting slogans such as “Gay, Straight, Black, White, Marriage is a Civil Right.” Three gay couples then occupied the marriage license office, saying they would not leave without a license to wed. County officials refused to give licenses out — but also refused to take the demonstrators into custody. About 3:45, the demonstrators left.

In the evening, same-sex marriage supporters took over a swath of West Hollywood, spreading across Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards. The general mood was disappointment, although many said they’d expected the court to rule as it did.

In San Francisco, meanwhile, police arrested more than 150 people after pro-gay-marriage demonstrators marched to Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street and sat down, blocking one of the city’s main arteries. They were cited and released.

“It’s about raising awareness and keeping the struggle going,” said Aubra Fletcher, 33, of Berkeley, as she sat, smiling and waiting to be arrested.

Other rallies were planned for more than 100 California cities, including Eureka, San Diego and Palm Springs.

Across the state, gay marriage supporters emphasized the same message.

“Tonight, we take to the streets. But tomorrow, we must continue the hard work,” said Lorri L. Jean, head of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center.

But even as they pushed forward, many gay activists said they felt unexpected grief over the reality of a decision they had been expecting for months.

“I’ve just been told that I have less equal rights than my colleagues,” said West Hollywood Councilman John Duran, who is gay.

Melissa Etheridge plans gay tax ban as “second rate citizen”

November 10, 2008

Melissa Etheridge hit her blog in an angry lesbian sort-of-way, but with good cause in protest of the passage of Proposition 8.

Etheridge makes a good point. If she doesn’t get all of the perks offered to the straight tax payers – should she and all the other gays get a tax break.

She writes, “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.”

Much to my surprise, Melissa actually makes a little sense here. If gay marriage isn’t legal, maybe gays and lesbians should get a state tax break. It might make people think twice before they vote to ban gay marriage. I bet all of those homophobes who voted for Prop 8 if they knew it was going to raise their taxes!

Financial planning for gay couples

Legally, you’re considered strangers, so the wisest course of action is to put everything — everything — in writing. Unmarried heterosexual couples should follow the same advice.

Surprising a spouse with a new car or an extravagant piece of jewelry is an expensive way to express affection, but at least there aren’t tax consequences.

But gay couples, technically, should file a gift tax return — gifts worth more than $12,000 come with tax consequences. So one could imagine the results if an individual decides to retitle a home or bank account, giving half to his or her domestic partner. These issues, which don’t exist for the legally wed, are just the tip of the iceberg and underscore the importance of careful financial planning, whether you’re filing your income taxes or planning for retirement and regardless of where you live. The same issues apply to unmarried heterosexual couples.

Same-sex couples need to keep in mind that even though domestic partnerships or civil unions are recognized by some states — California, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maine and Hawaii — and gay marriage is allowed in Massachusetts, you remain strangers in the eyes of the federal government. In fact, one financial planner points out that there are about 1,049 federal laws that benefit those allowed to take an official trip down the aisle.

“Any rights you would want to have as a married couple, you need to re-create in a legal document,” says Todd G. Sears, a senior financial adviser who founded the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) financial-services team at Merrill Lynch & Co.

That will require a lot of paper. Some of the documents needed and the terminology will vary from state to state, but here’s a basic list that same-sex partners should have:

Wills and/or revocable living trusts and pour-over wills: Without a will or revocable trust, you risk having your assets pass to family members instead of your partner. It also allows you to name a guardian for minor children. A revocable living trust — in which assets are titled to the trust and your trustee distributes your assets per your wishes after your death — is considered more difficult to contest. A living trust also keeps your affairs private because it avoids probate, unlike a will, which becomes part of the public record. A living trust should be used with a pour-over will, which will cause any assets left out to “pour over” into the trust after you die.

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Giant tax headaches for gay couples

Some states allow same-sex partners to file joint returns, but because the U.S. government doesn’t, tax season for gays means additional paperwork and lots more time-sapping computations.

The tax rules for same-sex marriages, civil unions and domestic partnerships are fraught with complications — and expense.

The 2000 U.S. census counted more than a million people in the U.S. who were part of same-sex couples (those who were willing to say so in census forms), according to data analyzed by GayDemographics.org. About 21% lived in states that today have laws for gay couples on the books, and some of those states allow same-sex partners to file joint tax returns.

California’s recently expanded domestic-partnership law gives the largest population of same-sex couples in the country access to a sort of matrimonial tax recognition, according to GayDemographics.org.

In 2004, Massachusetts became the only state with legal same-sex marriage. A same-sex couple files a joint tax return in that state, just as any heterosexual couple would. But complications arise when it’s time to prepare an Internal Revenue Service tax return, says Shari Levitan, an attorney and partner in Holland & Knight’s Boston office. The federal government doesn’t recognize same-sex couples, so each taxpayer must file as single.

To file jointly at the state level, that couple would have to prepare four tax returns, says Debra Neiman, a certified financial planner in Arlington, Mass., and a co-author of “Money Without Matrimony.”

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