{"id":309,"date":"2003-05-06T07:21:34","date_gmt":"2003-05-06T12:21:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=309"},"modified":"2014-11-05T14:05:55","modified_gmt":"2014-11-05T21:05:55","slug":"gay_marriage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/05\/06\/gay_marriage.html","title":{"rendered":"Gay marriage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coming soon to a nation near you<\/a>?<\/p>\n

It does make me wonder what the effect of having legalized gay marriage in Canada would have on the US. Would we see an outmigration of gays to Canada? Canadian immigration laws are, I understand, pretty tough, but the same is true for the US, and we’ve seen oppression elsewhere redound to our benefit here as the “best and brightest” fled to the States. While I’m sure there are some who would be pleased to see gays leave the country, that’s basically a stupid and short-sighted attitude to take.<\/p>\n

Would gay marriage in Canada increase the chances of the same thing happening here? Maybe. Not directly, perhaps — for two peoples as similar as the US and Canada, we (particularly our governments) spend a lot of time highlighting the differences. But this isn’t nationalized medicine. The drift of social conventions, the meme if you will, will have an impact. It will be difficult for folks to argue that legalizing gay marriage will lead to debauchery on the streets and the downfall of civilization when folks right across the border are doing it without any particular harm. (Granted, debauchery on the streets is a bit more difficult in Canada’s climate, but that’s a technical detail.) And, perhaps, if there are any hitches (so to speak) that develop (cf. nationalized medical insurance), we can learn some lessons from our neighbors to the north.<\/p>\n

Should be interesting, at any rate.<\/p>\n

(via DiscountBlogger<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n

UPDATE<\/u>: More grist for the economic benefits <\/a>mill, via JillMatrix<\/a>:<\/small><\/p>\n

[T]he big new-ideas and cutting-edge industries that lead to sustained prosperity are more likely to exist where gay people feel welcome. Most centers of tech-based business growth also have the highest concentrations of gay couples. Conversely, major areas with relatively few gay couples tend to be slow- or no-growth places. Pittsburgh and Buffalo, which have low percentages of gay couples, were two of only three major regions to lose population from 1990 to 2000.<\/p>\n

Studies controlling for a wide range of factors also show innovation and economic vitality closely associated with the presence of gays and other indicators of tolerance and diversity, such as the percentage of immigrants and the level of racial and ethnic integration.<\/p>\n

Why? Creative, innovative and entrepreneurial activities tend to flourish in the same kinds of places that attract gays and others outside the norm. To put it bluntly, a place where it’s OK for men to walk down the street holding hands will probably also be a place where Indian engineers, tattooed software geeks and foreign-born entrepreneurs feel at home. When people from varied backgrounds, places and attitudes can collide, economic home runs are likely.<\/p>\n

<\/small>Food for thought.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coming soon to a nation near you? It does make me wonder what the effect of having legalized gay marriage in Canada would have on the US. Would we see…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[25,718],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gay-stuff","category-marriage-equality"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10983,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/05\/03\/meanwhile_to_the_north.html","url_meta":{"origin":309,"position":0},"title":"Meanwhile, to the North …","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-May-07 10:50am","format":false,"excerpt":"More same-sex-marriage brouhaha from our neighbors in the Anglican Church of Canada.\u00a0 The Canadian\u00a0church has been a footnote in a lot of the\u00a0discussions to date on what's going on...","rel":"","context":"In "Marriage Equality"","block_context":{"text":"Marriage Equality","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/marriage-equality"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/episc-shield.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6839,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/12\/21\/proof_of_harm.html","url_meta":{"origin":309,"position":1},"title":"Proof of harm","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 21-Dec-04 10:47am","format":false,"excerpt":"Gay marriage proponents have asked for proof that gay marriages will somehow harm straight marriages. The proof has finally been discovered: if your community starts marrying gays, the feds will...","rel":"","context":"In "LGBTQ &c"","block_context":{"text":"LGBTQ &c","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/gay-stuff"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39305,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/22\/pot-and-gays-america-approves.html","url_meta":{"origin":309,"position":2},"title":"Pot and Gays: America approves","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 22-Oct-13 11:29pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Both legalization of marijuana and gay marriage are solidly majority opinions in the US. \u00a0Who'dathunk?Though, as a commentary on the headline below, while I myself am okay with folks smoking pot, and am cool with gay weddings (having attended same and even played a role in same), if you're smoking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28634,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/17\/the-horrifying-evils-of-kids-learning-gays-exist-and-eek-love-each-other.html","url_meta":{"origin":309,"position":3},"title":"The Horrifying Evils of Kids Learning Gays Exist and (Eek!) Love Each Other!","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 17-Jul-12 10:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Horrifying Evils of Kids Learning Gays Exist and (Eek!) Love Each Other!I really don't get it.First off, most debate in this area -- and by debate I mean fear-mongering propaganda -- tends to be along the line of, \"If we allow gay marriage, then our children will be asking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24588,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/16\/in-sickness-and-in-health.html","url_meta":{"origin":309,"position":4},"title":"In sickness and in health","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 16-Dec-11 6:54am","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been long known that marriage makes for healthier individuals, overall. Life expectancy is higher among married couples than singles, etc. Whether it's a matter of general happiness, or having someone else to care for you, or whatever, it's a pretty clear effect.So it's not at all surprising that the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2346,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/07\/10\/ive_been_saying.html","url_meta":{"origin":309,"position":5},"title":"I’ve been saying this for some time","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 10-Jul-02 6:31am","format":false,"excerpt":"By preventing gay couples from marrying, social conservatives aren't strengthening marriage, they're weakening it. Those who worry about the example gays would set by marrying should be much more worried...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46539,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions\/46539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}