An economic rescue plan
This year is an exciting one for my family and me. Last December, on a ski-slope, my little sister’s boyfriend got down on one knee and asked her to marry him.
I was thrilled when I heard the news. He is a fantastic person, and my sister has never been happier. The nuptials will take place in August.
As a bridesmaid, I have been getting excited with her in choosing a ring, picking out a gown, and discussing everything from who the celebrant will be to whether to serve salmon or prosciutto for hors d’oeuvres.
I am responsible for getting dresses, planning a hens’ weekend, and organising the gift registry.
As we’ve been trying on dresses in bridal shop after bridal shop, and scouring Bride, Modern Bride, Bride and Bloom, I have been shocked by the sheer size of the budgetary implications of weddings. According to a 2008 survey by Bride to Be magazine, the average (yes, the average) cost of a wedding in Australia is now $49,202.
In these times of economic doom and gloom, imagine how much money would be injected into the hospitality, retail, catering, tourism, fashion, photography, hairdressing and make-up artistry industries, to name a few, if gays and lesbians were allowed to get married.
Let’s face it, many in our community have a tendency not to skimp when it comes to celebrations.
If politicians aren’t persuaded by the arguments for equality, then perhaps they might want to give some thought to the business case. At a minimum there are 20,000 same-sex couples in Australia. If only a quarter got married, that’s over $246 million right there.
So as I stand by my sister as she ties the knot in August, I’ll shed a tear of joy, a tear of sadness when I hear that -˜a marriage is between a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others’, and I’ll let out a little chuckle about our grand plan to save the economy.
Emily Gray is convenor of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby.
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One of the great advantages of being gay is not having to engage with this type of marriage bullshit.
I never once thought that in 30 years of activism that a so called community leader would lead a degeneration of debate into important policy issues to a discussion of wedding frocks!! Spare us all.
I really do think that Emily Gray is living in some kind of parallel universe if she can’t see that what she has written is offensive to queer people who are being required to register their same sex relationship with Centrelink.
The Rudd Government, through Centrelink, will treat us as married while not allowing us to get married should we want to. This is an appalling double standard on the part of the Government and of people in our ‘community’ who are celebrating what is, in reality, merely a partial victory for GLBTIQ rights.
Finally, the ‘knot’ that is tied is not intended to be, but generally turns out to be a slip-knot.
Across Australia gays and lesbians are dreading an impending centrelink nightmare that will plunge us into poverty and desperation.
It is an offensive insult to rub our noses in bridal crap and self indulgent excessive spending at a time like this.
I suggest a registry office and a big fat donation to the Food Bank.
Stimulate that way, it gets food into poor people’s mouths. What will it take to wake up those from the big end of gay town – this is disgraceful and insensitive.
Class is alive and thriving in gaytown, and those of us who think marriage is based on human property much like slavery need to come out and say so.
Being married will not help to eradicate discrimination it’s just Howard’s deliberate trick to divert us to a conservative agenda.
And didn’t he suck us all in so well. F*@K Marriage and F*@K the rich.
Someone pass me a bucket – I want to throw up