Friday, September 13, 2013

Gay marriages to be treated equally by IRS

1. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-pn-irs-gay-marriage-taxes-20130829,0,3074530.story

2. National level

3. Marriage, civil rights

4. An “enacted” policy that has been passed to help with a problem/issue that individuals/families face

5. Same-sex marriage being recognized by the IRS is tantamount to federal recognition of same-sex marriage as lawful and eligible for all federal rights, protections, and benefits tied to marriage. This means that a same-sex couple married in one of the 13 US state jurisdictions where it is recognized as legal, are able to live an any state and continue to be recognized as married by the federal government. For a comprehensive list of rights and protections granted to married couples, you can visit this website

6. To deny same-sex couples the right to marriage is unconstitutional under the Due Process clause, which guards against the arbitrary denial of human rights by the federal government, and the Equal Protection clause, which holds that no person will be denied equal protection under the law. Besides being unconstitutional, it is wholly un-American to deny someone rights and protections under the law, based on an individual preference as inconsequential as their sexual orientation. Among America's core values are individual freedom and justice for all - how can denying federal rights to someone based on who they're having sex with reflect these values in any way? Further, it violates the separation of church and state, which holds that religious influence should not permeate state decision. Arguments against gay marriage are purely faith based, and should therefore remain an irrelevant influence on the state. I'm extremely excited and overjoyed that America is exercising the values it was founded upon. I feel that recognizing gay marriage as lawful could only have a neutral or positive effect on the American people.

1 comment:

  1. I think that this is awesome that same sex marriage is being recognized by the IRS. It should truly be up to the people on what their preference is and should be able to marry who ever they want to. Yes they may still be judged by many people based on their choice of faith but that shouldn't matter now that it is recognized as legal in these US states. It is pretty cool to me that they can live in any state they want and still be recognized as married, just because they have a different preference in who they wanna be with, they are still human and it should be lawful to have gay marriages. We are American and it is wrong to deny someone their rights and protections under the law.

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