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Fear, The Economy and Gay Marriage

This summer our economy doesn’t know which way to go.  It is up. It is down.  There are no jobs for so many people.  Credit continues to be tight and many companies are closing your inactive accounts and reducing credit lines. The market dips and rises based on earning reports or dismal June consumer spending is unpredictable and sometimes painful.

There is a lot  of angst, frustration and anxiety at every level.

But now the Concerned Women for America (CWA) have a new reason for the economic uncertainty and a new plan to revive America’s economy.  Banning Gay Marriage.

Tamara Scott, state director of Iowa Concerned Women for America told a gathering there that gay marriage threatened society and was the cause of the economic downturn.  Scott quoted figures from a May 2009 Family Research Council report.  The Family Research Council is a Christian right wing group that skews all of its work toward an anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-women’s agenda.  Read the report of her comments here.

The right-wing politicos of which Scott is one, continue to try to stir up their brand of homophobia.  Blame the gays for every problem. The economy is bad so it must be a gay problem. Or blame undocumented workers.  Or blame people of color.  Or Muslims. Or Jews.  Where does the list end?  They play on the fears and anxieties of the masses.  This is the problem with the right-wing.  Play on the fear.  Rather than lift up aspirations.

It is what is wrong with America today.  We are fear driven.  And Washington, D.C. regardless of which side of the aisle they sit continues the fear based conversation.  In some ways, I think that the 24/7 news and cable feeds whip this feeling to a frenzied state.

Ironically a wedding ceremony is not about fear for the couple, it is about hope!  It is a  hope that the future together is better than remaining single.  And most studies tell us that married people are happier people and live longer.

Concerned Women for America’s Tamara Scott simply wants to move her constituents toward increasing their fears.    Hasn’t she heard that increased spending on weddings, honeymoons, and home ownership that comes with gay marriage is likely more of a fix to the economy?  Two years ago, the New York State Controller estimated that gay marriage would generate more than a billion dollars to the state! Read an article about this. So too in California!  That is a billion in each state.  Now add 50 states to that ….. that is a lot of economic recovery!  See the Williams Institute at UCLA they have done economic impact studies on several states and the District of Columbia.

So maybe one of the real fixes to the economy is sweeping hope! Gay marriage in every state.  Full equality is a statement of hope.  Time to re-calibrate our meters.