Married/RDP

Every year tax season descends upon us with a force that compels us to do what we most hate. We are required to tell the government our whereabouts, our income, what we should write off, and our marriage status. Well kind of....

For the last 12 year I have been forced to file as single. I married Michie in front of 120 of our best friends and beloved family in 1996. We vowed to take care of one another for the rest of our lives. We became registered domestic partners with the city that same year and then we took part in the first RDP civil ceremony in city hall the year following that. In 2003, the state of California allowed us to register as Domestic Partners. In 2004, we took part in the mass weddings at City Hall along with thousands of blissed out queer couples...and yet I still had to file single on my tax returns.

But this year was different. Not on the Federal level... we aren't there yet. But this year, with a republican Governor who has vetoed allowing Civil Marriage for my type of family 3 times, the State of California allowed us to check the box Married/RDP.

For the first time in our lives, Michie and I filed a joint return.

It made me so happy and I just wanted to share it with you.