The Economics of Gay Marriage

Okay, I’ll be honest. I wasn’t overly excited about gay marriage until a couple of years ago. I was a strict follower of the counter-hegemonic mantra. In other words, mock the mainstream by rejecting its dominant cultural ethos (see Michael Warner’s book ‘The Trouble With Normal’). This worked really well while I was in school, as I didn’t live in the “normal” world anyway. I lived within the confines of a well-manicured university where one could win a Fulbright by writing a dissertation on the role of Marge Simpson’s blue hair on gender politics in the U.S. No wonder I was jealous of American Studies students. They were “required” to take cool classes and read “scholarly” articles about VH-1’s “Pop-Up Video.”

Fast forward to a couple of years later, and I’m entrenched in the real world, fixated on the economy and searching for a fuel-efficient sedan. I have a genuine fondness for tax deductions and low insurance premiums. I have come to feel boringly normal. And although I’m personally now very excited about the possibility of legalizing gay marriage in Iowa, I’m almost equally excited about the economic implications of gay marriage (hint, hint, Iowa!).

I myself think the government should allow for two consenting adults to get hitched if they so choose. I could present a plethora of reason why I’m for gay marriage, but I don’t think I’ll bore you with the heartfelt arguments that you may have already heard. Instead, I will finesse you with hard-core economic data as it relates to gay marriage in California. Ever the romantic, I refer you to a study by UCLA’s The Williams Project:

http://www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute//publications/CAsamesexmarriage.pdf

A Very Brief History of Pride

In case you were wondering why you’re seeing a few more rainbow flags than usual, June is Pride Month. And although we’re already in the last full week of June, I wanted to give everyone a chance to learn about the History of Pride Of course, we didn’t get to experience Des Moines Pride in all its glory earlier this month; we will, however, celebrate all things Pride in September. It’s kinda like “Christmas in July,” or I should say “Winter Festivities in July.”

Okay. To get back on track, here’s the very short history of Pride, compliments of Tennessee’s GLBT mediasource, Out and About Newspaper: http://outandaboutnewspaper.com/article.php?id=1518

Enjoy getting your ‘learn’ on!

P.S. Is anyone else a little surprised that Tennessee has a decent LGBT newspaper with rather sizeable staff? Maybe Nashville is the next San Fran…

The Gay Brain

Here is a link to… yep you guessed it… a recent study about gay brains that are structured like those of the opposite sex. Whenever I hear those famed words, “a recent study,” I think to myself, “here we go again.” Whether it be a recent study about the healthy benefits of broccoli or a recent study suggests that coffee is good for your heart, or another recent study that shows broccoli is linked to cancer. I have associated those words in a contradictory way. Yesterday when I heard about the recent coffee is good for your heart study, the reporter included that the study was not paid for by big coffee roasters. I thought that was an interesting way to put my skepticism to rest since the story included pictures from Starbucks, among other big coffee shops.

I did find the gay brain study rather intriguing. For me, being lesbian is like the color of my hair. I can try to change its color, but it always goes back to what it is naturally. I don’t really need a brain scan to tell me that this is biological, but if it helps us get to some scientific conclusion to prove this point, I’m all for it.

Hello, any straight allies in the house?

As we move towards our postponed PrideFest celebration in September, we have a couple more months to plan. We can always use a few more warm bodies to help and our planning meetings are always open to everyone. I would like to see more diversity in our volunteers and committee members. A nice spread of differently aged people, a spectrum of sexual orientations and genders would all be greatly welcomed. Consider this a call not only the LGBT community in Des Moines, but to our straight allies that have been wonderfully supportive. We need all of you to make this event successful in celebrating and embracing the diversity that Des Moines has to offer.

There is a misconception, not only in Des Moines, that LGBT events are only for those that identify as LGBT and that heterosexual people are not welcome. Let’s put this to rest right here and now. Yes, PrideFest provides a safe place for LGBT people to come together and celebrate our LGBT-ness, but I like to celebrate right along side of my hetero brothers and sisters. Building community is the most important aspect of PrideFest. Working with businesses in and around the Des Moines metro has opened a lot of doors for Capital City Pride and guess what? A lot of these business owners and our contacts at the larger corporations are straight.

How do we as LGBT citizens of Des Moines welcome our straight allies? First, let’s stop rolling our eyes at the hetero couples we see holding hands on the sidewalks. And muttering, “Damn breeders,” under our breaths. The old saying of never judge a book by it’s cover has proven to be true time and again for me. Instead, strike up a conversation. I bet you will be surprised at the outcome.

What does it take to be a volunteer for Capital City Pride? I pulled the definition of volunteer from Wikipedia:

“A volunteer is someone who works for free for a community or for the benefit of natural environment primarily because they choose to do so. The word comes from Latin, and can be translated as “will” (as in doing something out of ones own free will). Many serve through a non-profit organization – sometimes referred to as formal volunteering, but a significant number also serve less formally, either individually or as part of a group.
By definition, a volunteer worker does not get paid or receive compensation for services rendered other than reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses.”

Notice that nowhere in this definition does it state that you have to be lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered or even straight to be a volunteer. We at Capital City Pride hold this true. No matter how you identify, you are welcome at our table.