U.S. Supreme Court Tackles Same-Sex Marriage, Day 1 of 2

[mandrina]

I heard that those that make over a million dollars is going to pay a huge marriage penalty. Here's a interesting article about taxes and gay marriage.

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-gay-marriage-rights-may-carry-bigger-u-222320190.html

 
Near as I can tell, it seems to me that most gay couples who want to get married don't give a rip about what it will do to their taxes.

[Jack]

Near as I can tell, it seems to me that most gay couples who want to get married don't give a rip about what it will do to their taxes.

 
And if they do, they can always not get married. We just want the choice.

[Altair]

I am in a foul mood tonight. I think I just hate everyone at this point. I want to run away to San Francisco or the Gayborhood in Philly or Canada and wallow in rainbow flags and flip off everyone outside the queer + allies bubble. (And then, just knowing that LGBT+ rights have come so far, and having heard how different things were just fifteen years ago...)

My state is one of those that explicitly voted to define marriage as man + woman. We also just voted down (for the third time) a state initiative to add sexuality and gender identity to the list of "things you cannot discriminate against in a public workplace." You know, because fuck all of us. Because (AND I QUOTE) there is no proof of homophobia or transphobia existing anywhere ever in the state. Because a bunch of white straight Christian cis men are running everything, and I want to take their privilege and make it a corporal thing and shove it down their throats.

Sorry to say that Virginia is one of those states that I simply will not set foot in, because of the anti-gay bigotry entrenched in the state government. (Can we say "State Attorney General Ken Cuchinelli"? Without puking, I mean.)

[Sage]

Sorry to say that Virginia is one of those states that I simply will not set foot in, because of the anti-gay bigotry entrenched in the state government. (Can we say "State Attorney General Ken Cuchinelli"? Without puking, I mean.)

 
It's beautiful mountains in this part of the state. I wish the people and politics were as beautiful.

[Melamphoros]

It's beautiful mountains in this part of the state. I wish the people and politics were as beautiful.

 
The water looks pretty here in the east.  Plus all the nice history.

[Altair]

I heard that those that make over a million dollars is going to pay a huge marriage penalty. Here's a interesting article about taxes and gay marriage.

http://news.yahoo.com/analysis-gay-marriage-rights-may-carry-bigger-u-222320190.html

from the article:

The end of DOMA might also save same-sex couples from having to pay some federal taxes on healthcare benefits they receive through a spouse's employer. Unmarried domestic partners on average owe an extra $1,000 annually in taxes on these benefits because they are now taxed, according to Williams.

THIS.

My husband is on my health insurance through my employer, and my salary is pretend-inflated for tax purposes by the amount my employer pays for his part of the insurance. I don't see a dime of this "extra salary"; I'm just taxed as if I do, and it adds at least $1,000 a year to my tax bill.

One office further down the hall sits my boss, a guy married to a woman, who covers his wife on his health insurance, just as I do for my husband--except he doesn't pay a cent in additional taxes for the privilege.

It's infuriating, and I'm filing for an extension on my 2012 taxes. Because I fully anticipate that after June, DOMA Section 3 will be history, and I'm going to file for every single goddamn penny of those taxes back.

[MadZealot]

It's infuriating, and I'm filing for an extension on my 2012 taxes. Because I fully anticipate that after June, DOMA Section 3 will be history, and I'm going to file for every single goddamn penny of those taxes back.

Absolutely.  Hold on to as much of your money as you can, when you can.

[Sophia C]

I am in a foul mood tonight. I think I just hate everyone at this point. I want to run away to San Francisco or the Gayborhood in Philly or Canada and wallow in rainbow flags and flip off everyone outside the queer + allies bubble. (And then, just knowing that LGBT+ rights have come so far, and having heard how different things were just fifteen years ago...)

My state is one of those that explicitly voted to define marriage as man + woman. We also just voted down (for the third time) a state initiative to add sexuality and gender identity to the list of "things you cannot discriminate against in a public workplace." You know, because fuck all of us. Because (AND I QUOTE) there is no proof of homophobia or transphobia existing anywhere ever in the state. Because a bunch of white straight Christian cis men are running everything, and I want to take their privilege and make it a corporal thing and shove it down their throats.

 
Come to the UK. We have civil partnerships that confer exactly the same rights as marriage, and we're on the way to same-sex marriage (the bill is very likely to pass in the next couple of months, given how Parliament has been voting in the early stages).

It does make me very confused to watch these US debates. It seems to me that almost all the arguments coming from the Right have been disproved by the existence of same-sex marriage and its equivalents in many other countries. The only (temporary) obstacle to same-sex marriage here in the UK is the established church - and you have separation of church and state in the US. I understand that there are very different issues in America, but it doesn't half confuse the hell out of me. My marriage has not destroyed a single mixed-sex marriage that I'm aware of. My friends and neighbours are welcome to tell me otherwise anytime, but I think they'd laugh...

We also have gender recognition certificates in the UK (if I'm using the right term for that), which allows you to change your legal gender. It's not as good as the alternative solutions that would overturn the gender binary entirely, but it's a good start - and it does affect marriage. Am I right in thinking that a trans person (fully transitioned or not) couldn't marry a cis person in the US in situations where their genders are still 'officially' the same? (That's a really unclear sentence, but it seems I can't clear it up.)

[sailor]

Am I right in thinking that a trans person (fully transitioned or not) couldn't marry a cis person in the US in situations where their genders are still 'officially' the same? (That's a really unclear sentence, but it seems I can't clear it up.)

 
Depends upon the state.

Texas it goes by birth gender.  So a woman who used to be male can marry another woman.

In California it's current gender. Aside from SSM about to be legal, I'm not sure when the person legally changes gender so as to marry.

[MadZealot]

In California it's current gender. Aside from SSM about to be legal, I'm not sure when the person legally changes gender so as to marry.

 
Maybe when it officially changes on your ID.  That's all I had to show when applying for a marriage licence.

[Valentine]

Am I right in thinking that a trans person (fully transitioned or not) couldn't marry a cis person in the US in situations where their genders are still 'officially' the same? (That's a really unclear sentence, but it seems I can't clear it up.)

 
There's legal precedent in marriage law in the US either way--counting trans people vis-a-vis marriage as both their assigned sex and as their transitioned sex, both in cases negating a marriage--such that, in places where same-sex marriage isn't legalized, it's dodgy for trans people to be able to marry anyone.  Like, you can get away with it, but if someone decides to come knocking or there's a court case, the whole thing can be taken apart, and it really depends on who you have for a judge and what kind of lawyer you can afford.

Currently, I am in a situation where I was allowed to get a registered domestic partnership with my state (though federally I am single), but now don't have the legal standing as myself such that I am allowed to have that partnership dissolved--which is to say, because the laws around domestic partnership vs. marriage equality and state vs. federal authority are so tangled, I had the right to get a domestic partnership but not to get a divorce.  Which is bad.

[Altair]

Currently, I am in a situation where I was allowed to get a registered domestic partnership with my state (though federally I am single), but now don't have the legal standing as myself such that I am allowed to have that partnership dissolved--which is to say, because the laws around domestic partnership vs. marriage equality and state vs. federal authority are so tangled, I had the right to get a domestic partnership but not to get a divorce.  Which is bad.

Sorry to hear this, Valentine. The current "system"--if one can call it that--screws LGBT people left and right. (And I don't mean "screws" in a good way.)