What People Are Saying

Kate Kendall

Sandy and I do our very best to raise our kids to live with integrity, power in the world and openness to what is possible. The core values we try to instill in Julian and Ariana are compromised every time we deny who Sandy and I are to each other and every time we diminish what we mean to each other. We will no longer participate in the government’s erasure of our relationship and our marriage. We want our kids to grow up with the courage to step out and step up, even if it is difficult or risky. For us, refusing to lie on our taxes is a straightforward, and pretty minor way to demonstrate that courage ourselves.

As a lawyer and a legal advocate for the LGBT community, I am often in a position to advise people to exercise great caution and to comply in most cases with the letter of the law, even when that means denying who we are. This is my small way of saying, where we can, we are not going to play the game anymore.

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An exciting new campaign which could have real consequence and promote real change, has been launched....
Of course this is not for everyone and you are certainly risking something, but the protest and the reasons behind it are completely legitimate. The very idea that we have to lie on our tax returns if we are legally married, is ludicrous.

Talk About Equality Blog

 
A good idea… but risky. Almost makes me glad to be completely single so as not to be tempted to participate.

Hyhybt

My husband and I filed as Married, because that is our legal status.  DOMA has been ruled unconstitutional in our Circuit, and it hasnt been overturned.  Plus, I refused to declare the Imputed Income due to his being on my health insurance.  

If you believe that DOMA and discrimination is wrong, then you need to ACT AS IF IT IS.

Thom

Thanks for sharing that story. It absolutely stinks that you have to do through those mental gymnastics to answer the questions or risk losing benefits. It has to stop.

Anonymous

That's... all kinds of awesome. I wish the best of luck (in every sense of the phrase, especially legally) to any couple who take this on.

Drew2u


I own a private passport and visa service in Los Angeles.  Recently I submitted a passport application to the passport agency here in Los Angeles for a gay man who married his partner in California during the window when it was allowed.  He was renewing his passport and was changing his last name to take his husbands last name.  I did not think that the federal government would do the name change as they were a gay married couple and the federal government doesn't recognize these marriages.  Well to my surprise they did!  Now wouldn't that be setting precedent by the federal government?  If they recognize it as a legal name change for a passport they why not recognize the marriage for taxes or immigration.  Just food for thought.

Billy Dato

More power to them! We can't commend them enough for taking such a massive stand! Throughout the country, many married gay and lesbian couples have refused to file their federal tax returns separately this year, even though federal law STILL does not recognize same-sex marriage as legal!

Perez Hilton

I just completed preparing returns for a gay couple in Northern California, one with moderate income and one with little income. By file RDP (registered domestic partners, which they are) in California, they saved $1750 as opposed to filing as single. But because they can't file jointly for federal taxes, it cost them over $3000. This is an absurd punishment because of gender -- personally, I feel it is a violation of the Constitution.

Marshall Schwartz