So when we hear things like "But think of the money the gays could infuse our economy with!" I can't help but wonder if anyone realizes the implications of such statements? Because let's face it, white gay men tend to continue to out earn queer women and queers of color, affording them a socio-economic status that permits them to be able to afford weddings, condos, and other luxuries that advertisers love to shove down our throats. Meanwhile, queers of color and queer women continue to struggle with the double, and triple, whammies that our patriarchal society has forced upon them. They continue to face poverty and lack of access to basic healthcare. They continue to face discrimination based on their gender, race and also orientation. When we think about or see images of gay marriage in our media, it tends to be that of white male couples, or older white female couples. Harmless, whitewashed imagery that seems to gloss over other issues affecting members of the gay community. Hell, the majority of the gay rights leaders and outspoken advocates are all white males who are of a certain socio-economic status. They can afford their nice homes or condos, their frequent vacations and nice clothing. They can afford to get married and adopt children. But what about the other members of the community? Why must we focus all our collective energy on DOMA and DADT? Why must it be an all or nothing situation?

I don't know. The last few weeks I've found myself continuing to feel disconnected from what I think is a fundamentally flawed and broken gay rights movement and agenda, lead by individuals who don't, and can't, completely understand that the gay community is not populated by strictly white men of a certain status. Of course, the irony in me making these remarks is that I myself am a white gay male, so I benefit from it myself.

So yeah. I'm all for gay marriage, but sometimes I think that when arguments in favor of it are couched in ways such as "think of the money they can spend!" it excludes members of the community who clearly do not belong to the white male socio-economic club that is frequently cited as a boon to the LGBT community. I guess what I'm saying is that I wish we'd have more discourses on these matters than we do. Because it's important.

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[www.funnyordie.com]

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At first I thought this post was implying that these professions are full of teh gays. I was wondering what I missed about tent-rental guys...

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Seriously, it's an industry that is eagerly awaiting gay marriage to be legalized.

It makes sense that gay couples spend less, I suppose. I've only been to three same-sex weddings but they were all non-traditional and smaller. One of my best friends got married in the WOODS in Sonoma County, it was so rad. And free.

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(Excess? A woman we know is spending $10,000 on the rehearsal dinner for her son's wedding.)

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