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Gays "Screwed Until Economy Picks Up Again"

Saturday, January 9th, 2010

Yesterday’s defeat of a gay marriage bill in the New Jersey Senate is just one more disappointment in a string of bitter losses for those who seek equal justice under the law. Sure, other countries don’t seem to have a problem making fairness legal, but here at home, at the state level, we have apparently decided that we’re not going to play along.

Many of the objections you hear center around religion, but the sorry undercurrent behind the unwillingness to grant the same rights to homosexuals that their fellow citizens already enjoy and frequently abuse is actually one concerning politics and economics, i.e., in These Troubled Times legislators are not willing to take a chance on equality while their constituents are more concerned about jobs and wages. Basically, gays are screwed until the economy picks up again and we all feel so prosperous that we don’t care whether or not two committed partners who happen to be of the same gender want the same benefits as everyone else. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it is. So let’s set some benchmarks!

I spoke with Reuters finance blogger Felix Salmon and asked him what economic indicators we should be looking at to determine the point at which we’ll be so caught up in the next boom that we’ll be ready to let gays marry. He suggested the following data points:

Full Story from The Awl: http://www.theawl.com/2010/01/here-is-what-needs-to-happen-for-gay-marriage-to-pass

Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in economy, Gay Marriage, marriage equality, recession, same sex marriage, state legislators | No Responses »

Anti Gay Blog Claims Gays Cost the Economy, Causes Furor at Purdue University

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Bert Chapman knows that his reason for opposing what he calls “the homosexual lifestyle” — that it differs from his view of Biblical norms — won’t win many arguments these days in the secular world. So Chapman, a blogger who is also a librarian at Purdue University, turned to economics. And at his Conservative Librarian blog, he argues that gay people are an economic drain.

He cites the billions spent on fighting AIDS “without recognizing the morally aberrant sexual behavior … causing its spread” and the “sad practice” of colleges and other employers offering domestic partner benefits in a way that “prevents them from providing additional coverage to those of us adhering to traditional sexual moral standards”; he goes on to say that gay people are causing economic problems in fields such as real estate and divorce law.

“Guess who has to pay for these increased costs and potentially lower investment returns? We do, regardless of whether or not we approve of the homosexual lifestyle. The next time some one tells you how wonderful is the ‘progress’ gays have made in recent decades ask them if they have ever thought about the multiple economic consequences of this ‘progress’ as described in this posting,” he wrote.

Full Story from Inside Higher Ed: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/11/13/purdue

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.


To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in anti gay, blog, economy, Gay Marriage, gays, librarian bert chapman, purdue university | No Responses »

Are Blacks Being left Out of the National Conversation on Gay Issues?

Monday, October 12th, 2009

When Obama delivered his “gay agenda” speech to the well-fed, well-scrubbed mostly white crowd of gays and lesbians at the Human Rights Campaign’s Annual Dinner on Saturday night, anyone outside of the LGBT community would have assumed by the applause that the entire “gay community” is in agreement that access to serve in the military, gay marriage, and hate crimes legislation are our primary issues. But in reality, HRC’s political agenda is not what I want. It does not speak for me, nor for the lives of many other black, poor and working class LGBT people.

Given the fact that we’re in a long recession where hundreds of thousands of jobs have been lost in almost every month of 2009, and national unemployment numbers are at nearly 10 percent, why are we not talking about the issues that most people are concerned about – health care and the economy – and their impact on the LGBT community? The truth is, for many people at that dinner who could afford the cheapest ticket at $250 a plate, jobs and wages are of little concern.

It’s not as though there is a lack of evidence that supports the idea that LGBT folks are impacted by poverty. A report on lesbian and gay poverty in the US by the Williams Institute this spring showed that lesbian and gay couples were as likely to be poor as straight couples, mostly due to the impact of race and gender.

Full Story from The Grio: http://www.thegrio.com/2009/10/when-obama-delivered-his-gay.php

Planning to marry your partner? Click here for gay marriage resources.

To subscribe to this blog, use the rss feed on the right, or use the form at right to join our email list. You can also email us at info@purpleunions.com. Or find us on Facebook – just search for Gay Marriage Watch (you’ll see our b/w wedding pic overlooking the Ferry Building and Bay Bridge in SF). We’re also tweeting daily at http://www.twitter.com/gaymarriagewatc.

Posted in african americans, blacks, economy, Gay Marriage, gay organizations, jobs, obama, working class | No Responses »