Celebs Join Anti-Prop. 8 Protest; Melissa Etheridge Considers Withholding Taxes
Updated 7:18 AM PST, Fri, Nov 7, 2008
Hundreds of California Proposition 8 protestors, including reality star and supermodel Janice Dickinson, took to the streets in Westwood on Thursday outside a Mormon temple.
The protestors, whose numbers grew as the afternoon carried on, shouted cries of “equality” outside a Mormon temple on Santa Monica Blvd., after news broke alleging that the Mormon church contributed more than $15 million toward the yes on Prop. 8 campaign.
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Prop. 8, which sought to put a line in California’s constitution specifying marriage as between a man and a woman, was reportedly passed by a slim margin as the final votes were tallied on Thursday.
A host of celebrities had fought the proposition including Brad Pitt, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Pete Wentz and his band Fallout Boy, T.R. Knight, Ellen DeGeneres and Chelsea Handler.
On Wednesday as news that the proposition was likely to have passed, “Star Trek’s” George Takei and DeGeneres, both issued statements saying they were disappointed by the news, but they planned to continue to fight for equality.
And on Thursday, Melissa Etheridge took a vocal stand too, arguing that the passing of Prop. 8 means the taxman may not benefit from her income as a superstar musician.
“So Prop. 8 passed. Alright, I get it. 51% of you think that I am a second-class citizen. Alright then. So my wife, uh I mean, roommate?… Anyways, she and I are not allowed the same right under the state constitution as any other citizen. Okay, so I am taking that to mean I do not have to pay my state taxes because I am not a full citizen,” Etheridge blogged on The Daily Beast. “I mean that would just be wrong, to make someone pay taxes and not give them the same rights, sounds sort of like that taxation without representation thing from the history books.”
Melissa suggested her fellow gay celebrities keep their cash too.
“There is a lot I can do with the extra half a million dollars that I will be keeping instead of handing it over to the state of California,” she wrote. “Oh, and I am sure Ellen will be a little excited to keep her bazillion bucks that she pays in taxes too. Wow, come to think of it, there are quite a few of us fortunate gay folks that will be having some extra cash this year.”
And like Takei and DeGeneres said in their statements Wednesday, Etheridge said she too would continue a fight for equality.
“Today the gay citizenry of this state will pick themselves up and dust themselves off and do what we have been doing for years. We will get back into it,” she blogged. “We love this state, we love this country and we are not going to leave it. Even though we could be married in Mass. or Conn, Canada, Holland, Spain and a handful of other countries, this is our home. This is where we work and play and raise our families. We will not rest until we have the full rights of any other citizen. It is that simple, no fearful vote will ever stop us, that is not the American way.”
Related Content from AccessHollywood.com:
PLAY IT NOW: Hollywood Says No On Prop 8
PLAY IT NOW: Chelsea Handler’s ‘No On Prop 8’ Promo
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Copyright Access Hollywood
First Published: Nov 6, 2008 10:45 PM PST
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