Gay Marriage, Gay Unions, Domestic Partnerships, EQUAL RIGHTS!
EVERY COUNTRY IS DOING IT …
Except the United States!
There was a great article this week at
Huffington Post, by Nancy Lublin.
Called HOW THE GAYS CAN SAVE US!
She says, “I’ve got a simple, cost-free proposal for stimulating the economy: legalize gay marriage.
Forget your politics. Shelve your bigotry. Just listen to the numbers….
The average American wedding costs $20,000. The number of gay couples living together without the benefit of marriage is estimated at 3 million. Using those numbers, same-sex marriages could pump an estimated additional $60 billion in revenue into our ailing economy. That doesn’t even include money from the pre-wedding parties, honeymoons, or wedding registries.
I suspect that gay marriage would be celebrated with the same outrageous excess as heterosexual unions. Not that everyone can afford a wedding like Ellen Degeneres and Portia DeRossi’s elaborate celebration…but even some vows at city hall followed by a nice dinner with friends would help more than a $300 tax rebate. In fact, that $60 billion in revenue is all taxable!
Think about the number of jobs that would be created. The Association of Bridal Consultants say that on average 43 professionals are needed to service the average American wedding: florists, caterers, reception planners, photographers, travel agents, hotels, airlines, jewelers and bakeries just to name a few who would directly benefit from this huge infusion of cash….not to mention the divorce attorneys.
Picking and choosing what kind of love is worth recognizing is an expensive choice. Is discrimination worth that price?
It seems to me, the ailing economy might just be gay marriage proponent’s new bff.”
More than 16,000 gay weddings took place in Britain last year, with a quarter of them held in London.
More than 25,000 same-sex marriages have been contracted in Canada.
Most of the world is starting recognize same-sex rights.
What are we waiting for? Marriages are for two people who love each other. If they want to get married, so be it. They’re going to be together regardless of whether it has an official “governmental” stamp on it or not.
A government denying them the right to publicly marry is like saying “Okay, you can worship the same god, you can pay your taxes, you can be a law-abiding citizen just like the rest of us… but you don’t have the RIGHT to get married!”
Why? The “sanctity of marriage”. As if marriage would somehow be tarnished if more people were allowed to tie the knot. It is a nonsensical reason. Don’t call it marriage then. I don’t care what you call it – just give the same RIGHTS!
Last summer when my partner was rushed to Emergency for an accident, the hospital would not let me in, until I showed proof that I had Power of Attorney for him. Luckily, I had that document. I had to pay a lawyer $100 to draft it. WHY? Because the law doesn’t recognize me as his partner.
Conservative Americans try to force their beliefs on the gay community.
Remember in the 1980s – there was the belief that only gays had ear-rings (and only in the left ear). The males who got their right ear pierced were straight. Twenty-plus years later no one cares anymore, because many men now have ear-piercings in both ears, along with nose piercing, eyebrow piercings and lip piercings. The silly idea that only gays pierced their left ear was an idea forced upon gays by (guess who!) conservative Americans.
So why should gays and lesbians be denied a part of the American Dream?
They shouldn’t. All Americans are born equal and should all have the equal right to get married.