MI Hate: Current Discrimination

I haven't posted a MI Hate entry in a while. There are a number of reasons for that. One is that I want to seem like a non-angry model minority who is okay with going the legal route on everything, following procedure, and trusting that the Michigan and U.S. governments will do the right thing. I can map out a few different methods by which marriage equality will become reality in Michigan by the end of 2016.

In the meantime, though, what are the direct implications for Rebecca and me?

1. Taxes

Currently, we can file federal taxes jointly, but must file state taxes separately. This will require a double calculation of our taxes, because Michigan bases tax rates off of federal ones. Also, consider the difficulty of filing separately when you are sharing bank accounts, rent payments, and all other financial responsibilities. Requiring us to file separately is not only a huge inconvenience for us, it creates opportunities for us to strategically distribute assets and payments.

2. Health Insurance

Rebecca works for an employer that recognizes our marriage, as much as they can. However, there are some tax benefits she should be able to take advantage of that we will not be eligible for because the state won't recognize our marriage. Furthermore, we had to make decisions about where Rebecca would do residency based partially on where I could have insurance coverage and where she would be unlikely to be fired for being gay, given that this type of discrimination is still legal in Michigan.

3. Car Rental

Just yesterday, I had to rent a car because I was in a collision earlier this week. When I explained why my driver's license doesn't match my credit card, they recommended that I not allow my spouse to drive the rental, even though spouses normally would be allowed to. They said it was just the safer choice since no one really knows what would happen.

4. Finding a Home

This isn't strictly a marriage equality issue, but when we relocate, we currently consider whether the municipality to which we're moving has LGBT non-discrimination policies. In our last apartment, the lease and the leasing office told us that we'd be living in East Lansing, a city with robust non-discrimination policies. The property was actually zoned to Meridian Township, however, a municipality that didn't have any protections at the time and had much less robust protections once they passed them. We also generally try to lease with large rental organizations, because in our experience, most don't care much about our marriage as long as we pay the rent on time. Still, I got the feeling at our current office that the income verification process would have been different if they had recognized our marriage, and the name on the lease is my maiden name because we didn't have valid picture ID in our married names.

There are other issues, of course. Some are cultural/social issues rather than legal ones, and having a child is an issue I'm not going to touch on here. But I've found that many people do not realize that the DeBoer V. Snyder ruling was stayed and incorrectly believe that we have full rights. Many more don't know that even with marriage equality, there are many other types of discrimination we'll continue to experience.

I will leave you with this: justice delayed is justice denied. To most of the judges working on this and to many politicians, this is an ideological argument, not one that affects their daily lives. For us, it's real.