Couple plan gay rights protest

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • February 2, 2006 - 0:00

Charles Merrill feels he is paying unfair tax whilst not being allowed to marry his partner

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A gay couple in North Carolina are refusing to pay their taxes in protest at not being allowed to get married.

Charles Merrill and his partner Kevin Boyle, have announced they will not pay Federal or North Carolina Income Tax on over two million dollars worth of stock sales and income for 2004, because of unfair discrimination in the Federal and State Tax Income Codes.

Mr Merrill said, "I have no intention of paying Federal and State Income taxes because my same sex partner and I cannot be legally married and receive the same tax benefits as other married couples."

"By not paying taxes, this is a deliberate act of civil disobedience towards a President that wants to make an amendment to the Constitution to only allow marriage between a man and woman, rather than two people who love each other, and that discriminates against us as full citizens of the United States."

Charles Merrill and Kevin Boyle are founders of a group called Citizens Against Discrimination. In 1996 they organised and protested an anti-gay resolution in Rutherford County, NC, which caught the attention of national media.

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