I pay U.S. taxes. Even so, the Supreme Court decided in June that I am a second-class citizen. Unfortunately, taxes are mandated even when living abroad, and the U.S. twists the knife deeper by being one of the few countries to tax foreign income as well as domestic. So the only time I am forced to think about my home country is when I have to pay up — and when bad news comes.
When the Supreme Court “license to discriminate” ruling reached me in Berlin, it was a reminder of how much home can hurt, how it can wound over great distances. I always try to shop queer, but the U.S. just made it personal. If my money must be spent, it will go
