Suze Orman: Gay couples face unfair tax penalties, must keep fighting for marriage equality in states

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

Celebrity finance advisor Suze Orman says that regardless of how the Supreme Court rules on gay marriage, same-sex couples in Florida need to keep fighting to save their assets.

“We have to gather our forces in this state and do what has to be done to make sure marriage equality is accepted in the great state of Florida,” said Orman, who lives with wife Kathy Travis on the ocean in Broward County’s Hillsboro Beach.

Orman, a well-known author and CNBC program host, appears in a new HBO documentary that begins airing June 27, The OUT List, which also profiles gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender public figures including Ellen DeGeneres, Neil Patrick Harris and New York mayoral candidate Christine Quinn.

“I’ve been gay my entire life,” Orman says, explaining why at age 62 she’s become a leading national gay-rights figure. “It’s really important when people look at you, they see who you really who are. Not who they want you to be, but who you really are. It’s important that people see the truth. They love the truth. Of course they see me as the personal finance expert in the United States, but it’s also important that they see me as a lesbian woman because that’s who I am. Then, just maybe, some of those financial qualities can rub off and open the door to homosexuality that has always been closed before.”

The Supreme Court any day will announce whether it will toss a portion of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, the part that prohibits the federal government from recognizing legal same-sex marriages performed in and out of the United States.

“People ask, ‘What’s the big deal about being married,’” says Orman, who wed Travis nearly three years ago in South Africa. “When it comes to insurance, estate benefits, pensions, it’s really important that this happens on the federal level, not just the state level.”

Orman says her marriage-equality fight is for “a very selfish reason.”

“The financial discrimination that a gay couple, especially a wealthy gay couple, has put upon them is atrocious,” she said. “It’s no secret that KT and I are very wealthy women. KT was wealthy in her own right before I met her. Ms. Travis and I, if one of us dies, we’ll be losing approximately 50 percent of the estate we built over the years. if we were legally married and recognized by the federal government, I could leave Ms. Travis a billion dollars and never lose a penny to estate taxes.”

Orman said that even if she and Travis became primary residents of New York or California and had to pay state income taxes there, it would still be cheaper than living in Florida, where there is no state tax.

“We would be paying more in estate taxes here than we could ever pay in state income tax in New York or California,” she said. “[Moving] would save us millions and millions of dollars in the long run.”

Diving great Greg Louganis to marry paralegal Johnny Chaillot in fall

ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Former Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis plans to get married this fall.

People magazine says the 53-year-old Louganis will marry paralegal Johnny Chaillot.

The four-time gold medalist is the only man to win consecutive Olympic titles in springboard and platform diving - in 1984 at Los Angeles and 1988 at Seoul.

After his diving career ended, Louganis revealed he was gay in 1994 and announced he was HIV-positive a year later.

Louganis is helping Olympic hopefuls as an athlete mentor for USA Diving. He's also been featured as a coach on ABC's reality diving competition "Splash."

Attorney: Florida judge in sex trial involving teenage lesbians should step down

ASSOCIATED PRESS

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- The attorney for a young Florida woman who was charged with a felony for having sexual contact with her 14-year-old girlfriend has filed a motion asking the judge to remove himself from the case.

Circuit Judge Robert Pegg chose September as a trial date for 18-year-old Kaitlyn Hunt, who was charged with lewd and lascivious battery on a child 12 to 16 in February.

In a motion filed Monday, Hunt's attorney, Julia Graves, said she was never notified of the trial date and alleged that Pegg moved the case ahead of 200 other pending criminal cases because he is biased against Hunt, who is gay. A similar case Pegg handled involving a male defendant and female victim took 19 months to conclude, Graves said in her motion.

The judge did not immediately respond to a telephone message Tuesday seeking comment.

Hunt's story received international media attention and prompted gay rights advocates to say she is being unfairly targeted for what would be considered a common romance if she was not gay. They have argued that older high schoolers dating their younger counterparts is an innocuous, everyday occurrence that is not prosecuted - regardless of sexual orientation - and not a crime on par with predatory sex offenses.

Click here to read more.

HUD releases first-ever same-sex housing discrimination study of private rental market

News release from HUD, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Research seen as important first step in identifying possible patterns of discrimination in rental housing

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today released the nation’s first-ever national study examining housing discrimination against same-sex couples in the private rental market.  The study, An Estimate of Housing Discrimination Against Same-Sex Couples, measures the treatment same-sex couples receive from rental agents when inquiring about apartments advertised online, as compared to how otherwise similar heterosexual couples are treated.

According to HUD’s study, same-sex couples experience unequal treatment more often than heterosexual couples when responding to internet ads for rental units, and findings show that gay male couples experience more discrimination than lesbian couples.

“President Obama and this administration have been unmatched in our efforts to ensure equal and fair treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons and communities,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan.  “Following the president’s lead, HUD has taken historic steps in the area of fair housing to ensure that we fulfill our nation’s commitment to equality.  As this study shows, we need to continue our efforts to ensure that everyone is treated the same when it comes to finding a home to call their own, regardless of their sexual orientation.”

“A person’s sexual orientation or gender identity should not be a reason to receive unfavorable treatment when searching for housing,” said Bryan Greene, HUD Acting Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity. “HUD is committed to making sure that LGBT individuals have equal access to housing opportunities.”

HUD’s study is based on nearly 7,000 email tests conducted in 50 metropolitan markets across the country between June and October of 2011.  For each paired test, two emails were sent to the housing provider regarding the unit advertised online.  The only difference between the emails was whether the couple was same-sex or heterosexual. Unfavorable treatment was measured by whether the tester was told the unit was available, asked to contact the landlord, invited to the see the apartment, or received any response at all.

Key findings of the study showed that:

Ø  Same-sex couples experience discrimination in the online rental housing market, relative to heterosexual couples.

Ø  Adverse treatment is found primarily in the form of same-sex couples receiving fewer responses to the email inquiry than heterosexual couples.

Ø  States with legislative protections show slightly more adverse treatment for gays and lesbians than in states without protections.

Ø  Adverse treatment of same-sex couples is present in every metropolitan area where tests were conducted, but no clear-cut pattern exists in the magnitude of adverse treatment by metropolitan size.

The Fair Housing Act makes it illegal to discriminate in rental, sales and lending on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability and familial status, however it does not include sexual orientation or gender identity as protected classes.  Nonetheless, 20 states and the District of Columbia, and more than 150 cities, towns and counties across the nation have laws that specifically prohibit discrimination against LGBT individuals.

Recently, HUD issued new guidance that treats discrimination based on gender nonconformity or sex stereotyping as sex discrimination under the Fair Housing Act, and instructs HUD staff to inform individuals filing complaints about state and local agencies that have LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination laws. In addition, on February 3, 2012, HUD published a final rule, “Equal Access to Housing in HUD Programs Regardless of Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity”, which requires HUD-funded and HUD-insured housing providers and FHA-approved lenders to provide equal access without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital status.

This study, which was done in collaboration with the University of Albany, State University of New York, serves as the initial step toward future research on same-sex housing discrimination. Recommendations for upcoming studies include in-person testing, examination of legislative protections at the local jurisdictional level (rather than only at the state level), and tests for discrimination against transgender people to further examine difference in treatment between same-sex and heterosexual couples in states without legislative protections.

The study was authored by University at Albany Associate Professor of Sociology Samantha Friedman:

"The discrimination found in this study is mainly at the initial stage of the housing search process, which is alarming because it means that same-sex couples are being shut out of housing opportunities right away by not being responded to as frequently as heterosexual couples by housing providers," Friedman said.

"Same-sex couples are less likely than heterosexual couples to receive an email response from providers and gain access to targeted rental units.  Given how easy it is for providers to respond to emails, this finding is disturbing."

"The adverse treatment of same-sex couples stems largely from the fact that housing providers are less likely to respond to the email inquiries of same-sex couples, relative to heterosexual couples.  The findings here are alarming but likely provide conservative estimates of such discrimination.  It is likely that in-person audits will reveal more significant disparities because landlords will have visual cues to confirm the sexual orientation of testers that might not have been as easily detected in the email," she said.

"This study is important because it shows that differential treatment exists between same-sex and heterosexual couples in their access to rental housing opportunities. HUD has already taken important steps to combat such discrimination, and we hope this study serves as a springboard for more research and the implementation of more laws against such discrimination."

C.J. Ortuño of SAVE Dade resigns to become CUNY law school's executive director of development

BY STEVE ROTHAUS, srothaus@MiamiHerald.com

C.J. Ortuño, the straight, married dad who for five years has run Miami-Dade County's leading gay-rights group, has resigned to take a development job with City University of New York law school.

Ortuño, executive director of SAVE Dade, will move next month to New York City with wife Charlene and their 5-year-old daughter, Amalia.

"I’ve accepted a position as executive director of development for CUNY School of Law. They’re a public interest law school in Long Island City," Ortuño, 36, said Monday night. "My start date is the end of July."

Ortuño, who grew up in Miami-Dade County and graduated from Killian Senior High, Miami Dade College and Florida International University, joined SAVE Dade in 2008 -- weeks before Florida voters enacted the state's Amendment 2, which defines marriage as a union only between one man and one woman.

Previously, Ortuño had been development director for Hands On Miami, a nonprofit volunteer-based social entrepreneur organization.

Ortuño put those skills to use when he succeeded Heddy Peña as SAVE Dade's executive director.

Under Ortuño's leadership, SAVE Dade helped secure domestic-partner benefits in cities including Coral Gables and organized political campaigns, including David Richardson's successful 2012 run for state legislature, making him the first openly gay Florida lawmaker.

"C.J. brought a level of professionalism, professional management, to SAVE Dade that we had never really had before. He brought fundraising and political skills and brought us significant new resources to plow into missions of the organization," said mortgage broker Joseph Falk, SAVE Dade's previous board chairman. "There's no question the results are apparent. Our task now is to look out to five more years of growth and find an executive director who can lead to new heights."

Falk is chairing the committee to replace Ortuño. A quick national search is planned. "Our view is expansive. We are not limiting our search to Miami-Dade County," Falk said.

Attorney Brian Adler, SAVE Dade's current board chairman, said he is disappointed Ortuño will soon leave.

"We want to congratulate C.J., obviously. He’s embarking on a wonderful new journey," Adler said. "Anyone’s who has worked with C.J. knows his unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ community."

Ortuño describes himself as "a completely different person" than the young man who first went to work at SAVE Dade.

"There was a tremendous amount of responsibility placed on my shoulders. I’ve been able to build a connection to a cause that doesn't directly affect me, yet completely affects me. I've been able to create this overwhelming sense of empathy and compassion that I didn’t know I had inside of me," he said. "It allowed me to manifest some values that were inside me as a person, but didn’t know how they shaped me. Values of respect and dignity and equity."

Two things surprised Ortuño most in his five years at SAVE Dade.

"First, the value of the work, the purpose of the work. Acceptance and fairness and equality were afforded to me by a community that I am not exactly like. Here I am, this straight guy running an LGBT advocacy organization, asking for the acceptance on behalf of a community. That same idea of acceptance was afforded to me," he said. "I was the person who was different, coming to a community of difference, where I was accepted.

"Ultimately, that allowed me and the organization to be embraced and see some success. That is what the success of the movement will be. Because acceptance is a two-way street," he said.

"The second thing I learned was just because you are gay or transgender doesn’t necessarily mean you are part of the movement," Ortuño said. "I thought it was going to be easy: If you are gay or lesbian or transgender, you are going to support SAVE Dade, of course.

"I quickly realized I had my work cut out for me even in the community that was affected by the work. The movement is so diverse. The movement is realizing success at such a rapid pace, that level of diversity doesn't always speak to somebody just because they are LGBT.

"During the time of 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,' to tell the 60-year-old gay man or lesbian that being in the military was important. Or to tell the 15-year-old queer kid that marriage is important."

Ortuño named another challenge: Reminding well-to-do LGBT people in places like South Beach and Miami's Upper East Side that the movement is "also about the 13- or 14-year-old boy in Hialeah or Overtown who is being marginalized, without the power or the access."

Unity Coalition: Call Sen. Marco Rubio regarding immigration reform and demand 'equal rights'

From Unity Coalition:

"Are YOU killing Immigration Reform? ... NO! We all deserve EQUAL RIGHTS. TELL Senator RUBIO! CALL (305) 418-8553.

Equality Florida to Twitterbomb U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio 3 p.m. Tuesday with hashtag #outoftouch

Equality Florida is planning to Twitterbomb U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio at 3 p.m. Tuesday after he said last week he's 'done' with immigration reform if gay and lesbian couples are included and that he's not for employment non-discrimination protections "based on orientation."

From Equality Florida's website:

SIGN THE PETITION!

Show Senator Rubio that he is out of touch with the majority of Floridians who believe in equality for ALL Americans. To sign the petition, click here.

SHARE THIS PAGE ON FACEBOOK:

Share this page with your friends & family on Facebook. Tell them the different ways they can take action.

TWITTERBOMB TUESDAY, JUNE 18TH AT 3PM EST:

Participate in our twitterbomb at 3pm EST! We are using the hashtag #outoftouch

Here are examples of tweets to send out:

Sen .@MarcoRubio 73% of voters support protecting gay & transgender ppl from workplace discrimination. #outoftouch

Sen .@MarcoRubio 67% of Floridians support immigration reform that keeps families together regardless of sexual orientation #outoftouch

Sen .@MarcoRubio your bigoted comments on ENDA & immigration regarding gayrights are #outoftouch w/ the view of the majority of  Floridians.

Sen .@MarcoRubio, people should not be fired based on prejudice & who they love. #outoftouch

Pew study: News stories about gay-marriage support outnumbered those opposed by 5-1 margin

News release from Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism:

News stories focused on support for same-sex marriage outnumbered those opposing it by roughly 5-to-1 in the two months marked by Supreme Court deliberations on the issue, according to a Pew Research study of nearly 500 news media stories related to the issue.

Indeed, 47% of the stories studied from March 18 through May 12 focused on support for same-sex marriage, while 9% largely focused on opposition and 44% were offered a fairly even mix of support and opposition or no views at all. In order for a story to be classified as supporting or opposing same sex marriage, statements expressing that position had to outnumber the opposite view by at least 2-to-1.

This news media focus on support held true whether the stories were reported news articles or opinion pieces, and was also the case across nearly all media sectors studied. All three of the major cable networks, for instance, had more stories with significantly more supportive statements than opposing, including Fox News.

Despite the preponderance of supportive coverage across media sectors, the level of mixed or neutral coverage varied among individual outlets. In cable news, MSNBC produced 30% mixed, 64% supporting and 6% opposing among the stories studied, while Fox News produced 63% mixed, 29% supporting and 8% opposing. And on CNN, the break was 57% mixed, 39% supporting and 4% in opposition. In newspapers, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today stood out for higher levels of mixed reporting, 70% and 67%, respectively, and a more even ratio of supporting versus opposing stories.

In the media coverage, supporters of same-sex marriage had a more consistent message than those arguing against it. Nearly half (49%) the stories studied in the news media included the argument that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry because it is an issue of equality. Among opponents, the most common argument was the idea that same-sex marriage would hurt society and traditional marriage; but it appeared in 18% of the stories. Other arguments against the measure included the idea that homosexuality is immoral (10%).

"This study shows how same-sex marriage supporters have had a clear message and succeeded in getting that message across all sectors of mainstream media,” said Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism Acting Director Amy Mitchell. “In addition, many of the events during the period studied, such as announcements by politicians and state legislation, reflect movement toward same-sex marriage.”

At the same time, public opinion, while shifting towards greater acceptance, shows significant opposition remains. That also comes through in the analysis of Twitter conversation included in this study.

Statements on Twitter were closely split between those that supported (31%) and those that opposed (28%). There were, however, significant shifts in the sentiment over the nine weeks studied.  During the week prior to and the week of the Supreme Court hearings, more of the Twitter conversation favored same-sex marriage. The two following weeks saw a reverse with more posts in opposition. Then, during the last month of the study, assertions in favor of the measure once again took the lead.

These are some of the conclusions from the study that examined coverage of the same-sex marriage debate in the mainstream press, in LGBT outlets and on Twitter. The main news sample included a mix of websites, newspapers, news programs from PBS, the three main network and cable news outlets, talk radio, NPR and syndicated radio headlines. Separately, researchers examined and analyzed coverage from the Huffington Post (which produced such a large amount of coverage on the topic that to include it with the rest of the news media would have overshadowed the results), coverage across a mix of leading LGBT news publications and the tone of the discussion on Twitter. This report is a part of Pew Research Center’s ongoing LBGT in Changing Times series.

Among other findings in the study:

· Most of the attention to the subject came in the five days surrounding the Supreme Court hearings (March 25 – 29). Of the main news media stories studied, 55% were produced in that period. The same was true for 44% of the stories on The Huffington Post and nearly half (47%) of the conversation on Twitter. The LGBT outlets, on the other hand, were somewhat more consistent in the amount of attention devoted to the subject throughout the eight weeks studied.

· In addition to the main arguments for and against the issue, the notion that the Supreme Court should not have taken up gay marriage was a common theme. About one-in-six (17%) of the stories in the main news media studied included this claim. In most instances, this case was made by legal scholars and the Supreme Court justices themselves as they wrestled with the legal questions. On a few occasions, however, the argument was used by opponents of same-sex marriage.

· Huffington Post, including its dedicated page Gay Voices, produced far more coverage than any other media outlet studied. Fully 365 stories about same-sex marriage appeared during the time period studied (every other day from March 18 – May 12), including 77 on March 27 alone, the second day of the Supreme Court hearings. Overall, the coverage showed more momentum toward same-sex marriage than the rest of the news media—62% of the stories were dominated with statements of support, very close to the level of support in the LGBT news outlets studied.

· While expressing strong support for the measure, LGBT news outlets focused on a different element of the story than any of the other media studied. A full quarter, 25%, of the coverage in the 11 LGBT outlets studied focused on local and state laws, an element that made up just 10% of the other news coverage. Generally, those stories detailed developments in marriage legislation on the state level.

· Journalists and citizens following the subject on the Internet used different terms when discussing the subject. An analysis using Google Trends, a service that tracks the phrases used during Google searches, revealed that citizens searched more often for “gay marriage” than “same-sex marriage.” Journalists, on the other hand, used “same-sex marriage” more frequently – according to searches of the LexisNexis database. The term “marriage equality” was not used by either as much, but did see an increase over time.

Read the full report.

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Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan source of data and analysis, and takes no advocacy positions. Its Project for Excellence in Journalism tracks the transformation of journalism in a changing information landscape through its annual State of the News Media report and other special reports.

Gallery | Well-Strung quartet performs during Art in the Tropics at Colony Theatre in Miami Beach

An enthusiastic audience attended the Well-Strung quartet's performance Sunday night at the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach, closing night of this year's Art in the Tropics LGBTQ performance festival..

The all-gay, all-male quartet performed a 70-minute show featuring music including compositions by Bach, Vivaldi, Adele and Kesha. Afterward, they signed CDs in the Colony's lobby.

Here's a bonus shot of Well-Strung I took in July 2012 during a trip to Provincetown, Mass.

Click here for a gallery from Sunday's concert. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.

Video | Rome's Gay Pride 2013 gets underway

On YouTube:

Rome's annual Gay Pride has gotten underway with calls for equal rights and same sex marriage. Report by Jane Witherspoon / ITN.

'M' or 'F'? Outdated IDs worry transgender people

BY LISA LEFF, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN FRANCISCO -- Lauren Grey didn't think much about the gender recorded on her Illinois driver's license until she went to test-drive a new car. Although she had been living as a woman for months and easily obtained a license with her new name and a picture reflecting her feminine appearance, Grey's ID still identified her as male, puzzling the salesmen and prompting uncomfortable questions.

"They are like, 'This doesn't match.' Then you have to go into the story: 'I was born male, but now I'm not,'" said Grey, 38, a graphic designer living in suburban Chicago. "And they are like, 'What does that mean?' It was super embarrassing." Similarly awkward conversations ensued when she tried to rent an apartment, went to bars or was taken out of airport security lines for inspection.

Most U.S. residents don't think twice about the gender printed on their government-issued documents. But those "M" or "F" markers - and the legal and administrative prerequisites for switching them on passports, birth certificates and other forms of identification - are a source of anxiety and, even, discrimination for transgender individuals.

Click here to read more.

Gallery | Gay baseball fans at Marlins Park in Miami; fundraiser called off, though, for lack of ticket sales

A few dozen LGBT baseball fans from throughout South Florida attended Friday night's game at Marlins Park between the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals. The Marlins won 5-4.

The event originally was planned as an LGBT and Allies Youth Night to benefit to benefit The Pride Center, Pridelines Youth Services, Safe Schools South Florida, SunServe, the Youth Pride Band of South Florida, National Voices for Equality Education and Enlightenment (NVEEE), and The Alliance for GLBTQ Youth.

Alas, the fundraising component -- along with a pregame mixer -- was called off because too few tickets were sold.

Click here for more pictures of LGBT fans at the game. Photos by STEVE ROTHAUS / Miami Herald Staff.