I always say half the battle is framing an argument in a way that other people can understand. That's how it occurred to me that perhaps people would understand civil rights if it was framed in terms of a social tax that minorities pay.

A tax is a percentage of value on goods/services/income that goes to pay for some greater good for a larger group. It can be for roads, social services, schools, etc. Now we can get into another whole argument later on whether we pay too little or too much taxes, whether they go where we want them, whether we get fair representation for what we pay, etc. For now, let's just talk about the general concept of paying a tax.

There is also a percentage of value we pay on our time/personal power/social contributions/self-esteem. Things that we sometimes willingly pay or fork over, sometimes that we are forced to give up so that society can function (justly or not).  For example, one could argue that the average black person has to pay a social tax for being black, it "costs" him more in personal power and social standing to be part of a minority.  A black person may need to be more educated, more industrious, more qualified to compensate for this social tax just to be on par with a white person, who still pays these social taxes, but not to the extent and with the burden a black person would.

Similarly women, pay a social tax. Much like when you buy car and have to pay a yearly tag tax, women who work, have to overcome the added burden of this social tax just for being female. It's those ingrained notions that women are best suited to be mothers and housewives, that they're just not cut out to make it in the business world. That's an extra tax that they have to overcome, by a burden of proof and measure of success that men don't deal with.

So it is, that after yet another year, another pride month. I take stock of the gay taxes that many in the LGBT community still deal with.

It starts young, there's the social costs of hiding who you are, being afraid to be yourself,  all at a time when people can ill afford to cope, and if anything needing social "tax breaks". It would be like slapping a huge start-up tax on new businesses and then wondering why so many don't make it or falter. That's not to mention the often crushing social taxes of being totally disowned by one's family, and losing their support, it would be like a small startup overnight just losing their line of credit or their accounts closed, or facing the ultimate declaration of social bankruptcy - suicide.

Personally: members of the LGBT community find themselves forced to "cook the books" hiding who they are.  Not wanting anyone to get a good look inside, afraid what they'd think. For good reason too, DADT, Prop8, attacks by the religious right, no wonder. But again, this all has a toll, it's hard to live a double life, one for friends and another for family and coworkers. Again, this hidden social tax that gay people must pay just to function in society.

Professionally: Gays can be great overachievers, they're used to having that role. Again, it's that need to overcompensate, having to be always on, put in more hours, go the extra mile, give up a social life, just to make up for the fear that might be found out. They realize that if they were outed, suddenly their stock may go down drastically. They could find themselves going from "excellent team player" to "doesn't quite fit in" when their work is the same it's always been, just the perceptions change. Again that social tax that robs them of their accomplishments, standing and personal power.

Spiritually: Finally, gays pay a huge spiritual tax. All the extra effort taken to hide, cover, and  distract takes a huge toll. The often repeated stereotypes, the name calling, the gay jokes all accumulate into a crushing burden. Whole religious communities ostracize these populations based on a couple of hand-picked bible verses of questionable origin translation. We have Mormons backing Prop 8 because gays and lesbians interfere with their view of a polygamous afterlife. We have gays being killed in Uganda driven by American-imported religious furor, we have gays and lesbians murdered in the middle-east, particular Iran and even Iraq, under constitutionally protected religious laws that allow and encourage it. How are gays and lesbians suppose to find the natural balance of spiritual life when they're so "taxed" right out of it.

In closing, let's not forget what taxes can do to a person, financially or socially. We all have a social contract to our government and society to give a bit of ourselves, financially and socially.  That's how societies work. Let's remember though that overly onerous taxation can stifle natural growth and expression. Particularly the old "taxation without representation" can be unjust and lead to open rebellion. We really need to visit and question the onerous burdens we place on certain minorities.