6 Days 'til Tax Day: All kids & families deserve an economic safety net.

One of the values of our current tax system is that married couples can use tax benefits to help protect and support their families.

Same-sex couples are raising children in at least 96% of all US counties while being excluded from the many tax benefits that come with marriage.

Ending the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage will provide security, respect, and a safety net to many more Americans, helping families and hurting no one.

Did you know...

• A 2000 report from Stanford University surveyed the legal and economic landscape and concluded that because same-sex couples are denied the freedom to marry, “the children living with same-sex partners are made to suffer.” These disadvantages have a disproportionately high impact on children in families of lesser means.

• Children are deprived of safety and security when their parents are excluded from marriage and can not get automatic protections such as: Social Security survivor benefits; child support obligations; custody protections; state and federal tax advantages; legal parent recognition in schools and for medical decisions, immigration status, inheritance, passport applications, visitation rights, family medical leave, and much more including the intangible reassurance that comes from knowing that your family is respected and protected.

• Understanding that no children should be deprived by their government of the protections and resources of the economic safety net that comes with marriage, the American Academy of Pediatrics, our nation’s kid’s doctors, have officially called for the end of excluding same-sex couples from marriage, along with numerous leading professional associations including: American Academy of Family Physicians' Congress of Delegates, American Psychological Association, American Psychoanalytic Association, National Association of Social Workers, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Medical Association, Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association

Get Active! Get Engaged!

Now what should you do with this information? How can you help? When you are talking about filing taxes this week, talk about these inequalities. And keep talking...

Talk to your neighbors. Tell your own story. Educate yourself. Contact your elected representatives. Get to know your local and statewide political advocacy organizations. Contact the leaders of groups of which you are a member. Write a newspaper, magazine, TV station, radio station or other media outlet. Create a visibility event. Host or sponsor a house party. Host or sponsor a family picnic. Ask someone you know — or everyone you know — to get engaged in this movement. Talk to your religious leaders about how to engage your faith community.

Who can you call to get answers to your specific tax-related questions?

Individuals, couples and families seeking tax advice should contact a personal tax preparer, accountant, or attorney.

If you are a reporter or an attorney with questions about tax time and marriage equality, contact Lambda Legal.

For a full list of the protections denied same sex couples and their kids, see "Appendix B" of Evan Wolfson's book, Why Marriage Matters: America, Equality & Gay People's Right to Marry.

For more information on Why Marriage Matters at Tax Time, or any other time, log on to our website at www.freedomtomarry.org.