April 15th is always a good reminder that gays and lesbians pay equal taxes but are denied equal rights. Isn’t it time that we receive the same benefits for our tax dollars as straight people? So in advance of ‘œTax Day’ the Human Rights Campaign has scheduled a national web chat on a variety of financial issues currently facing members of the LGBT community:

During the discussion, HRC and several financial experts will highlight the unique legal inequalities and hurdles facing the LGBT community with regard to financial, tax and estate planning issues.   Federal law treats same-sex couples as strangers, thereby denying them the 1,138 federal rights, benefits and protections available to different-sex married couples.

On Tuesday, April 14th, join HRC for a webchat at 2 p.m. EDT that will answer questions on a wide range of financial issues affecting LGBT individuals and couples with experts Joe Kapp, Advocate contributor and co-owner of a Washington, D.C., financial planning practice that caters largely to the LGBT community; Kirstin Gulling, an attorney at the law firm Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev who specializes in same-sex family planning, gay and lesbian family law and estate planning; and HRC’s legal director Lara Schwartz. You can submit your question prior to the online chat to webchat@hrc.org.

WHEN: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. EDT

To participate, visit the following link: www.hrc.org/taxchat and for daily updates, visit the HRC blog.

Finally, here’s additional material to bookmark: Joe Kapp, one of the experts mentioned above, co-authored a piece in the Journal of Financial Planning that each of us should check out: A Guide to Serving the Estate and Financial Planning Needs of Gay Men, Lesbians, and Same-Sex Couples.

Image credit: HRC.