Time to abolish child support...

I hope we'll see more of this activism in Canada.

Wind and rain pierced the plaza at Seattle’s new federal courthouse on May 18. That didn’t stop Perry Manley. He was determined to burn an American flag to protest something he’s been fighting 15 years: child support and the second-class citizenship of divorced fathers.

“Freedom march for non-custodial parents!” Manley cried. “Freedom march for non-custodial parents!”

Except for one other dad taking pictures, Manley was a march of one. He wore a black judge’s robe and yellow sandwich board, which he took off before stepping up to a fountain to burn the flag he’d brought with him.

His lighter, however, only burned holes in the nylon — nothing for the nine policemen on hand to worry about. Manley has been to the courthouse so many times, in fact, that one of the officers greeted him by name, then asked why he needed to burn a flag.

“It’s a symbol of freedom,” Manley answered. But “25 million non-custodial parents don’t recognize this symbol because this symbol doesn’t represent them.”

Because his ex-wife hates him, Manley told the officer, he won’t get to walk his daughter down the aisle this August. The very thought choked Manley with tears.

In the myriad of lawsuits Manley has filed against the state, however, he’s argued money shouldn’t have been withheld from his paychecks to support his ex-wife’s choice to have children or get a divorce — which Manley objects to on religious grounds.

Despite the lone flag-burning, Perry Manley isn’t alone: He’s part of a growing national network of divorced and angry fathers who aren’t just offering support or legal advice any more — that was the ’80s. Today, disgruntled dads with groups such as Dads Now, Fathers4Justice and a host of others are arguing that the child support system doesn’t treat dads equally and should be abolished.

For 15 years, Manley has been arguing there’s no such thing as a non-custodial parent. What he and other dads say they want is real, joint custody where no child support is paid to either parent, and each has the kids half the time.