Once again, the civil rights of a minority of U.S. citizens has been put to a popular vote, and once again, that hated and feared minority has been told to either get to the back of the bus, or start walking — to Canada.
Voters in the state of Maine, this week, turned out to repeal a legislative measure, signed into law by the governor, extending marriage equality to gay and lesbian U.S. citizens living in that state. Once again, the traditional moralists, with their big money, big mouths, and big ideas that allowing gays to marry will cause the apocalypse, have triumphed in scaring enough people to vote against their fellow human beings.
The right wing is celebrating like they’re the New York Yankees with the unabashedly proud conservative “news” site One News Now proclaiming that the score is 31-0 for “traditional marriage” — like taking away the civil rights of a minority is a game or competition to be celebrated.
Gay marriage has now lost in every single state — 31 in all — in which it has been put to a popular vote. Gay-rights activists had hoped to buck that trend in Maine — known for its liberal-minded electorate — and mounted an energetic, well-financed campaign. With 87 percent of the precincts reporting, proponents of traditional marriage had 53 percent of the votes.
I’m not sure when it became vogue to put the rights of a minority to a popular vote. I don’t recall ballot measures asking voters to approve equal rights for African-Americans and women. I don’t recall a ballot measure asking if mixed-race marriages should be legal. No, these items were not up for a vote, and neither should the civil rights of gays and lesbians be up for a vote from the majority.
A year after the Supreme Court struck down anti-miscegenation laws across the country in 1967, a Gallup poll revealed that 73 percent were still against mixed-race marriages. If a ballot measure could overturn a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, we’d still be arguing about blacks and whites marrying one another. Putting the rights of a minority up for majority vote is never a good idea. This is what you come up with — division, continuing hatred, and millions of dollars and valuable human effort being wasted on ballot measures meant to keep a minority down. Sometimes the law must be the law, whether the majority agrees or not.
African-Americans and women enjoy their civil rights now, but that doesn’t mean the majority like it — but they must abide by the law, or else. Gay and lesbian rights should be enjoying the same protection from the tyranny of the masses, but, for some reason, we’ve arrived at a place in history where we don’t want “activist judges” (like those in Loving v. Virginia) forcing us to be nice to and accepting of one another.
The hypocrisy of what happened in Maine is being overlooked by everyone, especially the mainstream media. While a majority of Mainers were voting to strip rights from their fellow citizens, the good folks in Ohio were voting to legalize another form of immorality: gambling. That same One News Now story that gleefully reports that queers were put back in their place yet again, noted this without comment.
In Ohio, voters approved a measure that will allow casinos in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. Four similar measures had been defeated in recent years, but this time the state’s reeling economy gave extra weight to arguments that the new casinos would create thousands of jobs.
Where, may I ask, is the outrage at this little piece of immorality getting passed? I have scoured the newspapers in Ohio looking for the religious outrage that four casinos will now be built around that state. What did I find? Zip. Nada. Nothing. There are no special religious outfits fighting against this measure – no out-of-state money – no religious rallies condemning the evils of gambling – no fear-mongering television ads or public preaching against how gambling tears families apart and leads to other forms of immorality. Zero.
In fact, this measure passed, after being defeated before, because of one thing: money. Simply put, Ohio needs the money. They need the jobs. So, morality be damned – let’s gamble!
The gay and lesbian community needs to pay attention. When the masses are hurting for money and jobs, their “moral” convictions and religious ferver are the first babies to be tossed with the bathwater. The good news for the gay and lesbian community is this: we have proof – studies – that show that marriage equality would be a boon to the economy.
A recent study concluded that marriage equality in Vermont would bring the state $3.3 million in revenue over three years.
But, that’s not all. The study found that jobs could be created as well:
The weddings of same-sex couples will generate new economic activity for the state’s businesses:
Spending by resident same-sex couples on their weddings and by out-of-state couples on tourism and their weddings will boost Vermont’s economy by $30.6 million in direct spending over the next three years. Over the next three years, the direct spending by resident and out-of-state same-sex couples will create approximately 700 new jobs in Vermont.
The study also showed direct spending would boost the sales tax revenues by $2.9 million and collect more than $414,000 in marriage license fees.
On the national level, a study by the Congressional Budget Office, “found that if all 50 states and the federal government extended the rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples, gay weddings would generate almost $1 billion in revenue each year. According to other estimates, same-sex marriages could tack on more than $16 billion annually to the $70 billion wedding industry.”
Revenue and jobs. This is the bottom line that gay and lesbian activists need to be pushing. Forget arguments around love, forget arguments on legal contractual rights given to married couples – follow the money. Lead with the money. Never stop talking about the money.
When marriage equality is about the money – about the money states will make, about the money counties will make, about the jobs that will be created in the wedding industry, about the hotels and restaurants and wedding halls that will cash in on all the weddings – then, the gay and lesbian community will have a winning strategy.
If Ohio voters prove anything, they prove that money trumps morality every single time. It’s time to take advantage of that human weakness to win the rights gays and lesbians deserve as full U.S. citizens.
