An Englishman in New England

I think that equality for same-sex couples can easily be achieved, if GLBT groups take a lesson from the civil rights movement of the 60’s, in that the hand of lawmakers was and is gripped by economic and corporate forces. Sounds cynical, to be sure, and I’d be quick to say that giants such as Martin Luther King definitely advanced the cause and more than deserve their places in history. However, despite their efforts I think it would have taken much longer to get to the point that America is at today unless the economic advantages of allowing minorities to move up in society were realized.

Corporations running short of qualified manpower on the whole didn’t care what color their workers were, as long as the red ink was absent from their bottom line - it simply didn’t make economic sense to withhold the necessary education from a sizeable chunk of the population while the corporate sector desperately needed them.

In this way, I believe the GLBT movement can achieve the equalities it seeks by taking an introspective look at the economic benefits employers could realize from the existence of gay marriage. I think they’ll find if they can sell this issue to the corporations, the struggle for same-sex unions would be much less of one.

Everyone should have the same rights, period. Unfortunately, when it comes to gaining them, I believe ethics are part of an entirely different equation. Convince the corporations to convince the lawmakers - they've been doing it for years.

Same goal, cynical and realistic route. Eh, sue me.