Thanks to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Wednesday, Peg Oliviera and Jen Vickery can stop wasting money on separate tax filings — and take pride in a country that, for the first time, respects their legal marriage.
Oliviera and Vickery became New Haven’s first same-sex couple to get married when they tied the knot at New Haven City Hall on Nov. 12, 2008. (Click on the play arrow above to watch their ceremony.)
Until Wednesday, their marriage was not legal in the eyes of the federal government because of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages legalized by states. Then, by a 5 – 4 vote Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down DOMA.
“This has literally shaken me to my core,” said Oliviera. “This is a signal that as a country we are moving towards equal rights regardless of sex orientation” and “that we as a country do not allow the government to decide what is moral.”
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy applauded the decision and raised a gay pride flag over the Governor’s Residence. A second Supreme Court decision, also Wednesday, cleared the way for same-sex marriages in California.
Paul Bass Photo
Jen and Peg at their wedding in 2008.
Oliviera and Vickery, who live on Prospect Street, have been heavily involved in the fight for equal rights. They trekked to Washington, D.C. to see the oral arguments when the Supreme Court was considering two DOMA cases. “We were two of the 300 people who got in to listen,” she recalled. “We knew that this was the first day of the rest of our lives. We wanted to be there for this historical moment.” She said they walked away feeling “really hopeful.”
The ruling will not change state laws legalizing or banning gay marriage. It will mean couples like Oliviera and Vickery will no longer be barred from accessing over 1,100 federal benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy. Those include: access to a partner’s Medicare and Social Security benefits; visiting an ill partner in the hospital and making medical decisions on the partner’s behalf; sponsoring a partner for immigration purposes; and filing taxes jointly.
“Tax time in our house is an immense stress and a financial burden,” said Oliviera. “This is going to alleviate that in a tremendous way.”
Oliviera, who’s 41, is a yoga teacher; Vickery, who’s 48, is an attorney. They have two kids, ages 5 and 25. In addition to filing state taxes, they have to file separate federal tax filings every April, costing extra money and time with accountants to make sure they get it right. Now, for the first time, they’ll be able to send in federal taxes as a married couple, a lesser tax burden than filing separately.
“We are a married couple with two kids,” Oliviera said. She said the “psychological burden of wondering what would happen if something would happen to us” was huge. If one of them passed away, the other would not have access to Social Security benefits, and would have to pay extra taxes on the transfer of the ownership of their home.
“There are so many little benefits that heterosexual couples take for granted that we couldn’t,” Oliviera said. “Now I look forward to taking those for granted.”
Oliviera said she and Vickery have expended a “tremendous amount of time” and energy fighting for equal rights: First, pushing the state to legalize gay marriage. Then “reminding people that this job was not done yet” because of DOMA.
“I’m really proud of our generation of being able to get this done for my youngest daughter,” Willow, who’s 5, Oliviera said.
“For her to be able to grow up” at a time when “this is a respected relationship in our society,” she said, “is a tremendous step forward.”