Say Anything Blog

What could possibly go wrong?

“Okay. So Prop 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate? Girlfriend? Special lady friend? You are gonna have to help me here because I am not sure what to call her now. Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen. I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.

Okay, cool I don’t mean to get too personal here but there is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California. Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year. What recession? We’re gay! I am sure there will be a little box on the tax forms now single, married, divorced, gay, check here if you are gay, yeah, that’s not so bad. Of course all of the waiters and hairdressers and UPS workers and gym teachers and such, they won’t have to pay their taxes either.”

Personally, I think gays should be allowed to marry.  I see no convincing argument as to why two consenting adults shouldn’t be able to enter into a mutually-agreed to social contract.

That being said, I don’t think we can just stop paying our taxes every time we disagree with a government policy.  Frankly, I am sickened by the amount of money that gets taken away from me in each paycheck to pay for retirement (Social Security) and health care entitlements (Medicare) for people who are perfectly capable of providing for their own retirement and health care (pretty much everyone on those programs).

But I’m not going to stop paying my taxes over it.  I’m going to continue to work through the democratic process until I get the change I want.  Because that’s how free societies work.  It’s not perfect, but to paraphrase Winston Churchill it’s the worst system in the world…except for everything else.