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Archive Version of
Partners Task Force for Gay and Lesbian Couples Online from 1995-2022 Demian and Steve Bryant originally founded Partners as a monthly newsletter in 1986. By late 1990 it was reformatted into a bi-monthly magazine. Print publication was halted by 1995 when Demian published Partners as a Web site, which greatly expanded readership. In 1988, the Partners National Survey of Lesbian & Gay Couples report was published; the first major U.S. survey on same-sex couples in a decade. In 1996, Demian produced The Right to Marry, a video documentary based on the dire need for equality that was made clear by the data from the survey mentioned above. The video featured interviews with Rev. Mel White, Evan Wolfson, Phyllis Burke, Richard Mohr, Kevin Cathcart, Faygele benMiriam, Benjamin Cable-McCarthy, Susan Reardon, Frances Fuchs, Tina Podlodowski, and Chelle Mileur. Demian has been the sole operator during the last two decades of Partners. Demian stopped work on Partners Task Force in order to realize his other time-consuming projects, which include publishing the book “Operating Manual for Same-Sex Couples: Navigating the rules, rites & rights” - which is now available on Amazon. The book is based on the Partners Survey mentioned above, his interviews of scores of couples, and 36 years of writing hundreds of articles about same-sex couples. It’s also been informed by his personal experience in a 20-year, same-sex relationship. Demian’s other project is to publish his “Photo Stories by Demian” books based on his more than six decades as a photographer and writer. |
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“No taxation without representation!” is a familiar quote from the early days of the American revolution. And just as the colonists had no means of controlling the way their taxes where used, same-sex families have no way of being eligible for the benefits opposites-sex couples take for granted. When the basic civil right of marriage is denied same-sex couples, the underlying question then becomes “Should gay men and lesbians be obligated to pay taxes for a government which routinely denies them access to so many basic human rights — especially the right to legal marriage benefits?” Those who say same-sex couples must not be allowed legal marriage can not have it both ways — they seem to want us to pay taxes, without being eligible for any of the privileges and benefits that these taxes finance. Legal marriage triggers more than 1,138 rights and responsibilities through Federal laws [See U.S. Federal Laws for the Legally Married], plus 150-350 more benefits depending on the state. This lack of equal access is not the American way. If same-sex couples don’t deserve equal footing in this democracy, then those who don’t want legal marriage for same-sex couples should launch a campaign to also prevent same-sex families from paying taxes which support these benefits. And it’s not just marriage benefits that are denied lesbians and gay men. Florida and New Hampshire laws refuse adoption to known homosexuals. Arkansas and Utah recently approved regulations banning gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual people from becoming foster parents. The right to adopt or provide foster care is also under attack in Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia. Colorado passed a law called Amendment 2, which has since been struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Before it was invalidated, this law forbade any other laws which addressed discrimination against lesbians and gay men. It also had forbidden any political redress for lesbians and gay men. When that law was devised, the State of Colorado should have insisted that its lesbian and gay population stop paying taxes because the government had stopped representing its lesbian and gay citizens. Nineteen states still have so-called “sodomy” laws on their books. These laws belittle, attempt to subjugate, and define lesbians and gay men as not fully human. Even if they are infrequently enforced, they are used as an argument to deny jobs, housing and child custody, by claiming that lesbians and gay men are felons by inclination, if not deed.
To help make it clear that lesbians and gay men are second-class citizens, and don’t deserve to be treated like all other Americans, here is a modest proposal:
A minority of Americans loudly insist that lesbians and gay men should not be allowed to have children, should not be teachers, should not be in the military, and they want marriage to remain the exclusive domain of the opposite-sex couple. They are doing their best to prevent lesbians and gay men from fully participating in American society. Shouldn’t they also insist that gay men and lesbians not pay that share of taxes which go to support child welfare, schools, military, and the benefits of legal marriage? The Republican party, for one, keeps insisting that taxes should be cut. Well, here is an excellent place to start. For basic facts on the status of U.S. legal marriage and a list of resources,
please see Quick Facts on Legal Marriage. © 1999, Demian
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© 2022, Demian None of the pages on this Web site may be reproduced by any form of reproduction without permission from Partners, with the exception of copies for personal, student, and non-commercial use. Please do not copy this article to any Web site. Links to this page are welcome. |