2016 Issue 3 may/jun - Focus Mid-South magazine

lgbt ally
lgbt ally
by Robin Beaudoin
photo by Greg Campbell
KATHY
FISH
HOLISTIC MONEY MANAGEMENT
FOR EVERY HOUSEHOLD
Twenty-five years of practice
as a CPA and financial planner,
as well as personal interest in
serving the LGBT community
interface to make Kathy Fish
a sort of financial superpower.
Fish & Associates collaborates
with LGBT family law specialist
Susan McKenzie to keep
abreast of changes or new
rules regarding issues like
marriage, retirement, custody,
or advance directives.
“We have lots of friends and
clients who are gay or lesbian
couples, so I’ve just been
supportive of the causes of gay
marriage. It’s just part of who I
am. I learned from my parents
not to be discriminatory,“ said
Fish.
Her interest in advocating
for the LGBTQ community
is backed by experience.
Raised as one of eight siblings
in an Irish Catholic family in
Rochester, New York, she was
taught tolerance from an early
age by her broad-minded
parents.
In the early 1990s, she
volunteered for Friends for Life
(FFL) at local hospitals, and
was appalled by the way her
gay friends’ parents treated
them, even disowning them,
simply because they were gay.
She struggled to find a way to
help.
“I remember when I first
went on the board for Friends
for Life and they asked why I
joined. I said I felt like I needed
to raise kids that were tolerant
because you learn that from
your family.
“I feel like I’m an advocate
for human and Civil Rights for
all. We have a reputation at our
firm that I learned of recently:
(that we are) LGBT-friendly.
I’ve not marketed myself that
way, but it’s great that people
feel comfortable that they
won’t be judged at our firm.
“My daughter is now on
the board of Friends for Life,
and an officer at Fish and
Associates, and the tenet
carries through the family.”
Fish has involved her family
in efforts to support the gay
community, education, and
sexual health. Her husband is
a professor at Arkansas State,
and one daughter who works
with her in her firm is now
designated as the ‘unmarried
couples and special LGBT
circumstances’ advocate.
Her other daughter, while
in high school, took an antibullying
LGBT education
proposal to Youth Legislature
and successfully saw it passed.
Fish and her husband
hold a Cocktails for a Cause
fundraiser at their home on the
first of each month to benefit
nonprofits FFL, Choices
Memphis; Fish & Associates
was a Magnum Gold sponsor
for 2016 Condomonium.
Fish and McKenzie are
collaborating on an education
series called “Wine and Words”
to bring up some of the issues
people need to consider.
“(The series will be) mostly
investment and estate planning
issues in the LGBT community,
and estate planning — or lack
of — which is a problem for
unmarried couples.
“Everybody needs to plan
for the future, whether you’re
in a legal marriage or not.
There are steps that have to be
taken care of.
“At some level, not everyone
needs a comprehensive
financial plan that entails
weeks and weeks of work, but
everybody needs planning.
People can benefit from advice
and a different perspective on
how to meet their goals,“
Fish said.
Page 18 / www.focusmidsouth.com / MAY+JUN 2016 / The Family Issue