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What does civil rights get you? More paperwork. California gave us domestic partnership rights a few years ago (2001). This year they require us to file as if we were married, but we still have to file as Single for Federal taxes. This sounded like a royal headache at first, but wasn't too bad. I had to learn how to do Schedule A because Catherine itemizes, but otherwise I don't make enough for it to impact the taxes I owe though it could benefit Catherine if we filed jointly, but we would have to pay her tax attorney to find out. The Married status is apparently less beneficial because you have to split deductions you would otherwise be able to take in full as Single.
RDP, in case you were wondering means Registered Domestic Partners. It's only spelled out once in the introduction. I had to look hard. We registered when it became available but we had also done the living trust paperwork to make sure I could stay in the house should something happen to Catherine and that we would be able to visit each other in the hospital and make decisions for each other. This had a huge affect on the way I thought about the house and my having a home (as opposed to being nomadic) and my responsibilities therein. I also get very good health care through her domestic partners program at her company, but she has to pay taxes on that benefit which isn't the case for real married couples.
We didn't try to get married that week in SF when everyone was standing in line at city hall. We were too lazy to wait in the rain and it turned out to be a legal mess anyway. Plus I still think Gay Marriage is a political issue used to give us something meaningless to argue about and divide people while corporate interests get to rape and pillage without anyone bothering to notice. But that doesn't mean I think we shouldn't be allowed to marry. In fact I think marriage benefits should be upgraded to family benefits so that you can widen the protection offered by law to your entire chosen family (including non-blood family members). As it stands marriage essentially reduces the power of the family or clan by dividing it up into units of two. Just look at the tax consequences of inheritance and the hassle of probate. Course the whole death taxes thing is a Republican concept to keep money in rich families intact so I may have to rethink this.