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A full toolkit to simplify your planning
| Introduction | Instructions | Handouts | Sample Press Release | Sample Letter to the Editor | Links |
Literature to Hand Out
We have created an informational flyer that can be handed out during the event. We need to educate our neighbors so that they are more fully aware of the unnecessary discrimination we face. Currently, we have the information available as a one page flyer here. Soon, we will also have a tri-fold pamphlet available. If you make your own materials and would like to share them, email them to us so that we can make them available to others.Below, we describe the injustices we have focused on for our literature.
Federal Taxes
Married same-sex couples are not eligible to file federal taxes jointly. This becomes especially significant when the two partners’ incomes differ dramatically, such as in the case of a stay-at-home parent.
Social Security
LGBT people pay the same Social Security taxes, but do not have access to the spousal protections Social Security provides to heterosexual people, including the lump sum survivor benefit generally used for funeral expenses and access to a deceased spouse’s higher monthly benefit.
Inheritance Rights
Current tax law allows a spouse to inherit an unlimited amount without incurring an estate tax. Same-sex couples are denied this right, as well as Tenancy by the Entirety, which ensures that debt inherited cannot be enforced against the couple’s jointly owned property.
Family Health Care
Some employers extend health insurance benefits to same-sex couples, but this trend is undermined by the federal government’s refusal to recognize legal partners for Medicaid and other social services. Adding insult to injury, domestic partner benefits are taxed as additional compensation.
Employment Discrimination
In most states, you can be fired from a job simply for being gay, bi or trans. This is not
just some abstract concept, it really happens. In these difficult economic
times, LGBT people need a fair chance at keeping their employment.
Right to Travel
Most people in America can move and travel between states knowing that
their legal rights will come with them. LGBT people cannot make that assumption. Is a better job worth losing family health insurance? If there's an accident during a family vacation will one partner be denied hospital visitation?
Immigration Equality
If a US citizen marries an opposite-sex person from a different country that
person can sponsor their spouse for immigration purposes. That right is not
available to same sex couples, where all too often LGBT people find themselves
in heart wrenching dilemmas, forced to choose between their country and the
person they love.
Open Military Service
The current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy deprives LGBT Americans of their right to serve their country openly. A marine who has been loyal to her squadron for years can be dishonorably discharged after she is seen kissing her girlfriend goodbye.