Tea Parties? How About Wedding Parties Instead?
Posted by Laura Calvo on 15th April 2009
Laura Calvo
Portland OR
It is April 15th which means it is Tax day. Tax Day may forever be be changed to National Tea Bagging Day.
However, so many American families are feeling the effect of being second class citizens as they file their actual tax returns after having to figure their “what if we were equal” tax return. At a time where health care insurance costs are spiraling out of reach for even the most fiscally sound employers who do the right thing in extending health care insurance benefits to the dependents of thousands of same-sex couples, those very same couples are being unequally taxed on the cost the employer pays for the legally married or domestic partner dependent in a same sex relationship. This alone places a further economic burden on American families who are struggling along like everyone else. It is not a matter of special rights. It is a matter of equal protection and treatment of all Americans under the law.
The Washington legislature has passed a bill that grants domestic partnerships all the state rights and privileges of marriage to same sex couples. The bill passed 65 to 35 and Washington Governor Gregoire is likely to sign the bill into law. Washington had a domestic partnership law with limited benefits to to couples. Today’s bill expands the current law to include all areas of state law that concern couples. Some have dubbed the bill as, “The everything but marriage bill”.
With the current momentum of states passing domestic partnership laws, 4 states allowing full marriage equality, New York legislation that could make New York the fifth state to pass marriage equality, a holding-your-breath Supreme Court decision soon to be announced in California, and a marriage equality debate pending in Washington D.C., the need to repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act becomes more and more relevant and urgent. The 800 pound gorilla in the room is getting larger.
At a time in our nation’s history where unemployment is at an all time high, trillions of dollars are being used to bail out troubled “too big to fail” corporations and “economic stimulus” is the word of the day, it is difficult to at times to hear that gay rights need to be put on hold until we get ourselves out of this mess.
Instead of Tea Bagging Parties which don’t do anything to stimulate anything except possibly the uncontrollable smirk as one considers the “not suitable for mixed company” double meaning of the phrase, why can’t we turn a part our consciousness towards stimulating the economy with wedding parties?
An article in U.S. News cited a study done by the Congressional Budget Office on the “The Potential Budgetary Impact of Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages” . The government study 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.
That is a pretty good stimulus package. Especially when you drill down a bit and find that the numbers used to estimate the number of weddings is a conservative number and the study was done in 2004.
In another study, the Williams Institute at the UCLA Law School predicts the state of California would stand to see an increase of $65 million in revenues as well as $700 million in business revenues to the wedding industry.
New Hampshire would see a net gain of $500,000 per year in state revenues while hearing wedding bells.
Vermont couples walking down the aisle will drop more than rose petals. Try $31 million in new spending over the next three years. The spending will generate 700 new jobs and another $3.3 million in state revenues.
I don’t know, but the next time I get one of those “get your degree” spam generated emails, I think I might look to see if they offer a degree in wedding planning.
Tags: Add new tag, gay lesbian bisexual transgender, Marriage Equality
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she was murdered because of anti-transgender bias.