NEW YORK, Aug. 6, 2008 — John Bisceglia has reached his limit. He's refused to file his taxes since 2005, and will continue to do so until the federal government grants all LGBT Americans and their children the 1,400+ legal rights and protections civil marriage affords. His new blog Gay Tax Protest shares how marriage inequality wrecked havoc on his life, property, and career, as well as negatively affected many loved ones around him.
Bisceglia is a part of a growing movement of gay people who are protesting discrimination in the Federal Tax Code against same-sex couples. Other well-known leaders in this movement include Charles Merrill, cousin to the founder of Merrill-Lynch, and widowed from Evangeline Brewster Johnson, the daughter of the founder of Johnson & Johnson, Robert Wood Johnson.
Bisceglia in an interview recently said, "While it is crucial for Americans to know specifically how marriage inequality hurts LGBT families and their children, the details are irrelevant when it comes to law. The myriad of horror stories are not the reason for civil marriage – it's about equality. The federal government's discrimination against LGBT families is an abomination; it is cruel to deny our families a marriage certificate while simultaneously doling them out like candy to heterosexuals."
He asks all Americans to consider these injustices:
- A police woman loses her life in the line of duty; her wife of 13 years is denied all pension benefits.
- A rancher loses his husband of 22 years; his inlaws evict him and try to take the home he built and lived in with his beloved.
- A detective spends 25 years risking her own life while protecting society; she has to spend her remaining days on this earth worrying whether her earned pension will be transfered to her wife (while living with terminal cancer).
As a highly respected teacher of young children, Mr. Bisceglia wants to remind others how the LGBT community is interconnected to society as a whole. He emphasizes, "Every LGBT person's life is interwoven into their local communities, businesses, hospitals, schools, neighborhoods, and churches. Our families and children deserve the 1,400+ legal rights and protections civil marriage affords — period. My hope is that those in the LGBT community with substantial income demand their long overdue rights by taking a stand for justice, for society, and for equality for ALL Americans."
Contact:
John Bisceglia
360.325.8015
Email
GAY TAX PROTEST
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