Is Texas Gay for Gay Money?

Before I get started: 

In Jennifer Avilez's blog article, "Boosting Texas' Economy by Granting Same-Sex Marriage," she discusses whether or not it will benefit Texas financially to allow gays to marry, she misses the point.

I find it hilarious that in this country we sometimes wait until it's fiscally feasible or beneficial before we do the right thing. To try and examine the psychology of Americans would take way too long so I'm going to just use our author as an example of the mindset of America today. Jennifer is from Austin Texas, she is a young woman who identifies as a liberal, and if I was to guess is possibly of Hispanic heritage. One would say with those characteristics Jennifer might be open to new things and excepting of different cultures, lifestyles, and free from some of the conservative bigotry that we have seen so often in American politics.

I think the first thing the tip to me off that I should not judge a book by its cover was the first sentence in Jennifer's blog, "I believe it does not make sense to regulate gay marriage because they are going to find a way to marry as they please regardless of state limitations." It's almost as if Jennifer feels that there are some back alley gay marriage clubs that are running late into the night, and they're probably running 2-for-1 specials for a gay marriage and abortions at the same time. Jennifer has taken the human component out of the gay marriage debate altogether, a strategic mistake. She has disregarded the fact that as Americans we are given the right by our Constitution to pursue happiness. 

She simply addressed the economical component which has allowed her to come to the conclusion that gay marriage should be legalized in the state of Texas if for no other reason but to bring millions of dollars, even if it's gay dollars to the state economy.

I think I understand what Jennifer is saying. I fear though that she just went about it the wrong way. She's a numbers girl, an accounting major, so she only sees dollar signs. This is why we don't see many accountants writing public policy. If we allowed the bean counters to make all of the socio-economic political decisions, slavery would still be a thing. I must be clear when I say that I myself am not a gay man. I do not want to be accused of just being emotional about this issue. I have looked at this from a human perspective, and I must say that if I was a gay man I would be offended that the only reason that the state that I live in is considering my happiness is because it covets my money

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Jennifer also highlights the gigantic Trojan Horse, gay marriage in Texas causes. By legalizing gay marriage that may bring a lot of gay dollars to the state, and that could be good for the Texas economy, but is Texas ready for the gays? Believe it or not, they are already here. You must remember this is Texas, and even though Austin is a very progressive place there are still many places in this great state where the eyes of Texas are truly upon you, making sure you aren't too different. 

This article also reminded me of the issue in Arizona just a few short months ago when they passed a law that said that a business does not have to service gay individuals if it is against the business owner's religion. This proposed law ultimately legalized discrimination. Can you imagine one of the largest red states in the nation legalizing gay marriage. I can imagine it, and hope for many of my friend's sake it happens sooner rather than later. But I don't think the gay community will except it is a victory if it's only because it's going to bring more money to the coffers of Texas, and it's not based on the simple fact that it is their HUMAN right to be happy.  

Next time I hope Jennifer remembers to consider the human component in these discussions, and not just the dollars and cents.  Some of the biggest problems in this country go unsolved because of the dollars and cents, and not the right's and wrong's.  I look forward to her next article about how the gays can help solve the immigration problem by adopting all of the brown babies!