Taxes and Proposition 8

Since the passing of Proposition 8 there has been a lot of talk about where the money to get it passed came from.  There has been both a call for boycotts of companies owned by the Mormon Church and a lot of gay people saying they aren’t going to pay their taxes.

Generally I find boycotts to be kind of stupid.  It seems that they don’t really work because while you have people boycotting it also seems that it gets people on the other side to support those businesses.  Also sometimes people can’t boycott places because they just can’t afford it.

When it comes to the Mormon Church (and understand anything said here is directed at the Church and primarily it’s leaders because not all Mormon’s are on the side of inequality) I think the bigger impact can be made by rallying to have their tax exempt status taken away.  When you see the list of companies that they have a stake it it becomes more apparent that they are a for profit corporation hiding behind the veil of a tax exempt non-profit religion.

Some people say that the church itself didn’t give money so they shouldn’t loose their tax exempt status.  I’d actually challenge that because I’d look at the ties off all the people who gave money and how many of them worked for those companies on the boycott list.  The church may be able to hide behind it’s parishioners but, they did everything they could to encourage people across the country to give money.  (Personally I don’t think money should be allowed to cross state lines for individual state initiatives like this.)  They are also being investigated for paying to take people to California to work on the campaign.  And remember the current administration once threatened to take away the tax exempt status of the the NAACP just because the head of the organization spoke against President Bush.

I totally get why people like Melissa Ethridge and the person who commented on my last post say they aren’t going to pay taxes.  I would caution against that because deliberately not paying can get you thrown in jail.  However, you have to look at the obsurdity of the tax situation.  Here we have a huge number of people who are being made to pay the same taxes, and in a lot of cases higher taxes because they can’t get the same right offs as opposite-sex couples.  Not to mention that employer paid benefits for married couples are before taxes (basically not taxed) the money for the same benefits provided to a domestic partner are taxed.  That money comes out after taxes have been taken out of a persons check.

So that’s millions of people working, providing for themselves and their families, and they pay their state and federal taxes like everyone else.  Yet, they are not even close to being treated the same.  They aren’t given the same protections, they aren’t allowed the same benefits, hell they even have to fight to leave their hard earned money to the people they want to in some cases.  They do the same things to help this country run and don’t get the same things out of it.  Some of them still live in places where they have to fear for their jobs if people know the are gay.

The hypocrisy here is that this is all driven by the religious fear mongers.  Those fear mongers are then allowed to bring in all kinds of money for their churches (money that should be going to people in need) while paying now taxes on it.  On top of that they are then (thanks to the current administration and yes Obama plans to continue it) allowed to apply for grants from the government.  And where does that money they are asking for come from.  It comes from the tax dollars that we hard working Americans pay.  And that includes the tax dollars that gay Americans pay.  How messed up is that?

They don’t have to pay taxes yet, they get to not only have access to the tax money we all pay they also get to work to take away rights of the Americans that pay those taxes.

It is time that the religions of this country lose their tax exempt status.  Remember there is nothing in the Constitution that says that churches are entitled to anything especially special exemptions under the law.  What it does say is the freedom of religious expression.  And that is aimed at the individual it was not designed to give religions and churches the right to circumvent the law or have special privileges.

Proposition 8 mistake

I know I’m kind of behind on commenting about the passing of Proposition 8 in California.  That’s because there is just so much to say and I’ve been trying to sort through all my thoughts on the subject.  To put them all in one post would be overwhelming.  So there will probably be a few posts on the subject.

 

The passing of Proposition 8 is a tough blow to the movement for equality in this country.  A blow a lot of people didn’t think would happen.  I think a lot of people got caught up in thinking that if people voted for Obama they would automatically vote against Proposition 8.  Ultimately that kind of thinking lead to people falling asleep on the job.  Luckily people didn’t fall asleep on the job in bringing change to Washington and a great statement about how far we have come as a country was made.

 

Unfortunately an equally big statement was made about how far we still must go.  It’s as if people forgot that same-sex marriage was previously voted against in California.  It was Proposition 22 that was overturned by the states Supreme Court earlier this year.  I don’t know if people thought that the state had moved forward or if they just figured people would never take away rights that had been granted to anyone.  Could you imagine what would happen if somewhere people managed to vote to take away the right of opposite-sex couples to marry?

 

Whatever people’s thinking was they just dropped the ball.  Mainly I’m talking about the big people here.  I’m not talking about the little people who were giving until they couldn’t give anymore.  Or the ones that were out pounding the pavement.  I have a close friend who was out there on election night fighting against this.  I’m talking about the celebrities, I’m talking about the current and former politicians, I’m talking about anyone with a national platform.

 

Sure a lot of these people are out there now speaking against this and screaming about the injustice.  But, where were they in the months leading up to the election.  So many of them could be heard and read supporting Obama but, where were their voices against Prop. 8?  I don’t live in California so maybe they were loud there but, they weren’t loud everywhere else.  They forgot that the religious organizations were preaching every Sunday (and perhaps on other days) to all their followers in every state across the country to send money to help pass Proposition 8, to get in touch with people in California and get them to vote for Proposition 8.

 

I’ve seen all kinds of celebrities on all kinds of shows since the election speaking out against this.  Not just gay celebrities but, straight ones as well.  But, again I ask why weren’t they on Bill Mahr and Larry King before the election?  Why weren’t they re-directing the conversations on Leno and Letterman to talk against Proposition 8?  I faithfully watch Countdown with Keith Olbermann and The Rachel Maddow show every night but, they weren’t saying anything leading up to the election.

 

Sure those two shows are kind of preaching to the converted but, you know it would have ended up on You Tube and people could have passed it around to gain support.  I know that would have happened because Keith did a special comment following the passage of Proposition 8 and that’s exactly what happened with it.  His special comment was fantastic.  He drove right at the heart of the matter but, where was that before hand?

 

Yes, there was a lot of hate and fear that drove this loss.  But, that could have been countered if big name people had gotten out there and made impassioned statements on the side of love and hope, on the side of equality.  New polls show that all the protests and cries of injustice have caused people to change their view.  People would actually vote differently now after seeing the reaction and hearing the arguments for equality.  Some of that you know is seeing big name people out their commenting on this.  Just think what could have been if they had spoken up sooner.

More On ENDA

Not that he’s ahead but, Barney Frank needs to shut-up and stop digging his whole deeper. Last week he gave a statement to Congress again proving that he really doesn’t care about the transgendered community. There are several things that could be commented on but, I will just focus on two of them.

In his statement he said that we’ve been dealing sexual orientation predjudice and fighting it since the Stonewall riots of 1969. And that the predjudices towards the transgendered are newer. A little history lesson for Mr. Frank, it was the transgendered and crossdressers the police were after that night at Stonewall. The transgendered community has been dealing with the predjudice just as long and they’ve had to take it from those who should support them as well. The difference is that they aren’t going to take it anymore and the rest of the LGBTQ community is finally starting to fight for and with them, rather than against them.

In regards to lobbying efforts by the LGBTQ organizations and individuals in the last couple weeks Mr. Frank said “Where were they when we needed them? I’m glad to see the activity now – I just wish it was not so late.” The answer is, we were there. Everyone was involved. However, they were focused on the hearings and getting the bill through committee and onto the floor. They were told it would be a tough fight but, that it would pass. So they worked on making sure people didn’t pull their support rather than aggressively pursuing people for votes and scaring them. The organizations and community were then blindsided by Mr. Frank’s decision to pull the gender identity portion of the bill. Had he made it clear months ago that, that was a possibility people would have done hard lobbying and educating.

I think that was his plan all along. Put gender identity in to get stronger support from the organizations. Then pull it at the last minute. And he expected everyone to just lay down and take it. Only to his dismay that isn’t what happened. He talks about people in Congress telling him and the others behind the bill what they wanted to hear. Which is exactly what he did to the community. He told us what he needed to, to get the big chunk of support and then changed it at the last minute to get what he wanted.

There’s a couple of questions being over looked in all of this. Those questions are:

1) If people having jobs, not being on public assistance, taking care of their families, and everything else that ripples from being employed is such a fundemental part of the platforms for both parties how can either side justify allowing anyone to be fired or not hired for anything other than their ability to do the job?

2) Why is there such a rush to pass it by the end of this year? Now that people know the truth is their any harm in waiting a couple months while we do some more lobbying and educating. After all Mr. Frank has said that the whole reason for this is that there hasn’t been enough education on the subject. Maybe we get more votes, maybe we don’t. But what difference does it make if a fully inclusive ENDA or a sexual orientation only one is passed and vetoed this year or early next year? You never know what can happen in a few months.

The 14th Amendment

Lately a lot of people give lips service to what is known as the “Equal Protection Clause” of the 14th Amendment. Most notably in the last few years it is the basis for most lawsuits in regards to forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and is what we in favor of same-sex marriage point to in our fight for equality. It is used by other people and groups who often win there cases while we lose ours.

People are always saying that the “Equal Protection Clause” doesn’t apply to LGBTQ people. They have various reasons for why it doesn’t apply. The two most common are 1) that the founders didn’t intend for it to protect people based on their sexual orientation. Anytime people start talking about what the founders intended I have to laugh. I always wonder exactly when they sat down and had a conversation with the founders. And 2) that sexual orientation isn’t a protected class so it doesn’t apply to them.

People could not be more wrong with either of these arguments and it proves that either they haven’t read the 14th Amendment or they are counting on the majority of the population never having read it. (There really should be a required course in middle school and/or high school on nothing but the Constitution.)

Anyway, just so people know the 14th Amendment was ratified on July 9, 1868. Which is actually almost 100 years after the Bill of Rights (that would be the first 10 Amendments) was ratified. Which means a whole other group of progressive forward thinking people were behind it. Also it was ratified long before there was such a thing as a “protected class” in this country.

There’s five sections to the 14th Amendment. Section 1 being the so-called “Equal Protection Clause” and it reads as follows:

All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Now that you’ve actually read it (possibly for the first time) I ask you exactly how do you figure it doesn’t apply to certain citizens of the country. Because I’ve read it serveral times an can not find anything about it only applying to “protected classes”. It applys to all citizens. Pure and simple if any one person is granted a protection or liberty then all persons have to be afforded those same things.

It’s not that hard to figure out that state governments and the federal government are in violation of this on a daily basis. And that the courts themselves are constantly violating. Which makes me wonder how many of those judges have actually read the Constitution.

Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA)

The sudden notion that this bill will not pass if it includes gender identity is very odd. Anytime a bi-partisan bill goes for months with all indications that it will pass and then suddenly when it gets crunch time it supposedly needs a major change to pass it is a bit suspect.

I’m not even going to go into my big tirade about the HRC and them supporting it without the gender identity provision and then trying to reverse course after all the other LGBT (or if your more progressive LGBTQ) groups made it clear they wouldn’t support it. Mainly I’m not going to do that because that post would end up being way too long. The short version though is that the HRC is a two faced organization that hurts the entire LGBTQ community and other organizations with their wishy-washiness.

Disclaimer: Before reading any further please note that I am not trying to insult any portion of the community. I have friends all over the spectrum and have to date have found them to be very accepting of transgendered people. But, there is a portion of the community that wants nothing to do with trans people and that bothers me. Even those who don’t support the trans people would still find support from me and all my friends in their fights for equality. Also incase you might be wondering I am not trans.

Back to the subject at hand. What really hurts about this is that it is Barney Frank an openly gay man doing this and trying to make excuses for why it is okay. First off for him to say that the Transgendered leadership in this country is hurting the movement by not realizing the truth of the matter and how hard the fight is, is completely unacceptable. Yet it shows a greater problem in the community and that is the in fighting.

Sure the G and L portions will take all the help they can get in the fight. Including from the transgender people but, when it comes to fighting for those transgendered people too many people in high positions seem to still be too willing to throw the T part under the bus. Luckily there is a younger more understanding portion of the LGBTQ community that is willing to fight for the ideal of equality for all. People who actually believe that an injustice for one is an injustice for all.

And now for the extremely radical and possibly inflamatory portion of the post. In his statement reqarding removing the gender identity provision Mr. Frank said: “The question facing us – the LGBT community and the tens of millions of others who are active supporters of our fight against prejudice – is whether we should pass up the chance to adopt a very good bill because it has one major gap. I believe that it would be a grave error to let this opportunity to pass a sexual orientation nondiscrimination bill go forward, not simply because it is one of the most important advances we’ll have made in securing civil rights for Americans in decades, but because moving forward on this bill now will also better serve the ultimate goal of including people who are transgender than simply accepting total defeat today.”

The Mr. Frank since women are traditionally more accepting of peoples sexual orientation and men generally just love the idea of two women together I have a question for you. Would it be okay to pass a change to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that makes it okay for lesbians to be openly in the military but, not gay men? Because you know it’s more important to pass something with a major gap as we work towards the ultimate goal than not getting it passed at all.