May 7, 1998 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Homosexual-rights activists say that the I.R.S. acted improperly when it recently asked a Rhode Island organization that helps lesbians to change its mission statement as a prerequisite for obtaining charity status.
Kathys’ Group, located in South Kingstown, provides health information to gay women with cancer and their families and runs a support group with an average of 12 to 14 participants.
In a note faxed to the organization in February, an I.R.S. official said that Kathys’ Group needed to change its bylaws to state that it provides help to lesbians “and any women” who have been diagnosed with cancer.
That request is out of line, the organization says. “The only appropriate question before the I.R.S. is whether the group meets the legal criteria for educational and charitable groups entitled to tax-exempt status, and Kathys’ Group fits those criteria perfectly,” said David S. Buckel, a lawyer for the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund in New York, which represents Kathys’ Group.
The I.R.S., which cannot comment on pending applications for charity status or even confirm that applications are received, apparently has not made a final ruling in the case.
The revenue service last year gave charity status to a North Carolina group that counsels gay and lesbian teen-agers only after a controversial exchange with the group about the organization’s mission (The Chronicle, October 16). In a letter to the Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Support System in Greensboro, the I.R.S. initially raised concerns that the organization “would encourage the development of homosexual attitudes and propensities by the young and impressionable.”
Mr. Buckel said that the Rhode Island and North Carolina cases may signal a disturbing trend. “The evidence is building that the I.R.S. is infected with anti-gay bias,” he said.
Late last year, the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation, which is investigating whether the revenue service’s treatment of tax-exempt groups is politically motivated, asked the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund to describe its experiences with the I.R.S.
The revenue service has denied that it has unfairly singled out non-profit organizations for audits.
