Ellen Goodman: Gay couples in 4 states have strange dual citizenship D
They are not the only married couple in America who talk about taxes and ulcers in the same sentence. Nor are they the only couple who believe they are paying more than they should. On that ground they are part of a noisy majority.
But they are a couple for whom tax season also entails an identity crisis. Melba Abreu and Beatrice Hernandez file state taxes as what they are — a legally married Massachusetts couple. But under federal law, they have to file federal taxes as what they aren’t — two single women.
In the last four years, the government’s refusal to consider them a married couple has cost the writer and the CFO of a nonprofit about $5,000 a year. As Beatrice puts it, “We don’t know anyone for whom $20,000 and counting isn’t significant.”
This is one reason they joined seven other married couples and three surviving spouses last month in bringing a legal complaint against DOMA, the law that deliberately denies federal benefits to same-sex marriages. The other plaintiffs include a postal worker who can’t get health care coverage for her spouse, a widower ineligible for higher Social Security benefits, and a couple who can’t get a passport under their married name.
We have just doubled the number of states in which same-sex couples can be legally married. First, Iowa joined Massachusetts and Connecticut. Then Vermont followed with the first legislative approval. And a bill was just introduced in New York, where people cringe to find themselves lagging behind Iowa.
This is all part of a careful state-by-state strategy. But as a side effect, it’s producing more Americans with a strange dual citizenship: Married in the eyes of Iowa, single in the eyes of Washington. Eligible for a pension, health care, family leave in the eyes of the state; ineligible in the eyes of the feds.
Ellen Goodman: Gay couples in 4 states have strange dual citizenship Dayton Daily News
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/05/ellen-goodman…
Larry Kramer Blasts Yale’s ‘Conspiracy of Silence’ on Gay History
When more than 300 Yale alumni and their guests arrived at Yale for the University’s first-ever lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender alumni reunion this weekend, they found not only camaraderie, but also controversy.
The first-ever recipient of the GALA Lifetime Achievement Award, gay activist Larry Kramer ’57, harshly rebuked the University for its treatment of gay history as an academic field during the three-day reunion, which was jointly organized by the LGBT alumni association Yale GALA and the Association of Yale Alumni. At a dinner ceremony Saturday, Kramer said the University has wrongly relegated the study of gay history to LGBT studies, arguing that there is a significant semantic difference between gay “history” and gay “studies.”
Declaring that queer and gender theories are “relatively useless,” Kramer — who was among the first to call for action against the AIDS crisis — said gay history has been “hijacked” by queer theorists.
Kramer and Yale have clashed before; in the mid-nineties, Yale rejected a sizable gift from Kramer to create either an endowed chair in gay and lesbian studies or a student center for gay students. In 2001, Kramer’s brother, Arthur Kramer ’49, gave a $1 million gift in Larry’s name to found the Larry Kramer Initiative for Gay and Lesbian Studies, which was closed after five years when the gift was spent.
In order to demonstrate the importance of gay history, Kramer declared that he believes many prominent American historical figures were gay, including George Washington, the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis, Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth.
The study of gay history is therefore important as a means of promoting acceptance for LGBT individuals, Kramer said.
“The plague of AIDS was allowed to happen because most of the world hates us,” he said. “They don’t know we’re related to Washington and Lincoln.”
While alumni sat attentively throughout the speech and gave Kramer a standing ovation, some said afterwards that they were standing not necessarily out of agreement with Kramer, but rather out of respect for his activism in the wake of AIDS.
“He’s been a provocateur all of his career, since the AIDS crisis,” said Ken Demario ’64. “I don’t know if this was an appropriate forum for as nasty a broadside as his was against the University.”
In a brief interview after the speech, Provost Peter Salovey said he agreed that the study of LGBT history is important.
See Gay activist and playwright Larry Kramer Blasts Yale & Yale Daily News. * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Gay Marriage Bill On The Move In NY Assembly
The Assembly’s Judiciary Committee will take up Gov. David Paterson’s same-sex marriage program bill on Tuesday – the same day the Empire State Pride Agenda is holding its Equality & Justice Lobby Day in Albany.
There was so much interest this year that ESPA, which created a Web video to promote the event, had to close registration. Several thousand people are expected to attend See Gay Marriage Bill On The Move In Assembly
New York Daily News * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Thousands flock to gay marriage hearing in Maine
AUGUSTA, Maine — Same-sex couples from around the state urged Maine lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow them to marry, while opponents asked that it be rejected. A hearing is being held today before the Judiciary Committee at the Augusta Civic Center.
Supporters outnumbered opponents roughly four to one as the legislative hearing got under way about 9:30 a.m. About 3,000 people filled the auditorium.
Click here to listen to the live testimony.
Kate and Erica Quinn-Easter of Stockholm said they have done everything they can do under the law to protect each other. They even were married in Massachusetts five years ago but that union is not recognized in Maine.
“During the past 10 years with lots of pieces of paper we’ve proven our commitment to each other over and over again,” Erica Quin-Easter said. “It’s time the state of Maine recognized our marriage.”
In addition to LD 1020, committee members also were scheduled to heard testimony on LD 1118 that would extend to people registered on the state’s domestic partner registry the same rights and benefits as those who are married but would stop short of creating civil unions. Rep. Leslie Fossel, R-Alna, the sponsor of the bill did not attend the hearing and no one spoke in favor of or against it during the morning session.
See Thousands flock to gay marriage hearing Bangor Daily News
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Out-of-staters protest Maine gay marriage bill
Nine men who said they were with a Pennsylvania-based group were in Bangor over the weekend protesting a gay marriage bill that has been proposed in the Maine Legislature. The men stood at a busy intersection near the Bangor Mall on Saturday carrying signs and chanting slogans in support of traditional family values. The men told the Bangor Daily news they were members of the group American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property. The group travels to states where same-sex marriage legislation is being considered, and made stops in Maine in Portland, Augusta and Bangor. During its two hours at its Bangor location, the group got both honks from supporters and hoots from opponents. See Out-of-staters protest Maine gay marriage bill WBZ
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/04/out-of-stater…
Action filed with West Bend Library Board to remove specific gay books
WEST BEND – Concerned with the presence and appropriateness of some materials at the West Bend Community Memorial Library, West Bend residents Ginny and Jim Maziarka are taking action.
The Maziarkas have filed a formal, written complaint with the library. The complaint has been placed on the March agenda and will be heard by the members of the Library Board when they convene for their monthly meeting on Tuesday night.
Due to a large crowd that is expected to attend the proceedings, the meeting has been moved from the library board room to the City Council Chambers at City Hall.
“We find the books for youth on homosexuality to be biased, gay-affirming, promotional and romanticized,” the Maziarkas said in an e-mail sent to the Daily News. “We believe our library should be offering appropriate, wholesome literature to our youth instead of pursuing the illegitimate goals of transforming the views of other people’s children on the contentious issue of homosexuality.”
See
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/action-filed-…
Wyoming House kills gay marriage bill
The Wyoming House of Representatives voted down a bill on Friday that would have allowed state voters to decide whether to amend the state constitution to deny state recognition of same-sex marriages.
Supporters of the “Defense of Marriage Act” argued that passing it was necessary to reconcile conflicting state laws. But opponents said the bill was an assault on the rights of Wyoming gays and lesbians.
See Wyoming House kills gay marriage bill
Hays Daily News, KS -
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Quinn’s US Senate Diplomacy
Unlike Mayor Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn didn’t jump to Caroline Kennedy’s defense today when asked if Kennedy had gotten a “raw deal” from Gov. David Paterson during the much-maligned US Senate selection process.
Quinn chose to diplomatically skirt the question, the DN’s Frank Lombardi reports, saying:
“Caroline decided to drop out for personal reasons. I obviously, you know, wish her and her family well as regard to whatever this personal situation is.
“And I think what we all need to do now is get back to work, focus on the large agenda in Washington right now. We’re lucky that we have two senators right now fighting for us in Washington, not one. And we all need to work together and try to make sure that New York gets its appropriate share of the federal stimulus package.
“…So I think the focus now shouldn’t be on the past and what happened; the focus should be on moving forward for the city and state of New York and working with our senators to do that.”
Quinn also confirmed she chatted on the phone with Congresswoman-turned-Senator Kirsten Gillibrand See Quinn’s US Senate Diplomacy
New York Daily News – New York,NY,USA
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Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/02/quinns-us-sen…
Anti-gay remarks raise ire
It wasn’t exactly a New Year’s resolution, but KOA’s “Gunny” Bob Newman already has broken from his own suggestion to other conservatives about how to behave in making public statements. In doing so, Newman perpetuated a bigoted stereotype and smeared an entire class of U.S. veterans.
Shortly after the November election, Newman said that with an eye to the 2010 and 2012 campaigns, conservatives “cannot afford to do stupid things” such as “telling demonstrable lies about anything or anyone. We cannot, let’s say, exaggerate.”
See Anti-gay remarks raise ire
Denver Daily News, CO
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