Legalizing Homosexual Marriages is Good for the Economy

Africa boasts just one country, South Africa, that has legalized homosexual marriages and unions. Perhaps amid mixed reactions, something good must have come out of that. What else other than the fact that same-sex couples can now step out of the closet? So you ask...

Kenya, for example, is yet to see such a law -- let alone the advent of a debate of this caliber. However, law or no law, emotions and sexual inclinations far much transcend the legal framework. What with already well established clubs in up-market areas and well organized group meetings and same-sex parties for homosexuals; the Kenyan law clearly has a begging Bill in the pipeline!

Before I spark religiously affiliated disjoints to this, the end does justify the means. To illustrate how exposure (the good kind) and acknowledgment go to realize profits, literally, we need not imagine. How many new jobs were created when the youth of Kenya finally got their very own entrepreneur Youth Fund? How many more women were transformed from motherly housewives to comfortably bread-winning parents as a result of their merry-go-round co-operatives and very recently, their own fund? It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that acknowledgment of inborn states always results in personal development and growth. Is that not the formula used in therapy sessions? What if we now fit homosexuality into the picture? By giving the gay and lesbian members of society an open platform, what good would it do? Is legalizing homosexual marriages good for the economy?

You would be envious to learn that the attendants in the aforementioned same-sex clubs in up-market suburbs earn far much more than your average Kenyan. Makes one wonder what of the caretakers... The fact that upper class members of society have access to these clubs and parties that are exclusive to gay men and lesbian women, is not an implication that there aren't any akin members of society in the lower and middle classes. And that right there, is your homosexual, same-sex niche: unexploited, untapped, raw and wanting!

Evidently, the song that currently binds the Arabian merchant in UAE, the peasant in the Mexican Harlem and the Kenyan civil servant is one: global recession. But to our financial delight, recession is not an incurable virus and there is more than one way to develop immunity, even if just partial.

If and only if, homosexual unions and marriages were legally recognized... Same-sex clubs (otherwise called gay clubs or lesbian clubs) would mushroom not only in the hub of Westlands, but in the shanties of Soweto. Clothing lines (for those with a creative edge!), radio stations -- say 'Similarity FM' or 'Homo FM', talk shows on homosexuality, books (biographies and autobiographies) exploring the lives of homosexuals and their homosexuality; albeit being 3rd world developing societies, same-sex gift shops stocking pricey and affordable items for homosexuals, hotels and resorts with special services and policies for the gay, lesbian and straight guests, same-sex tours and travel that may not only benefit the homosexuals but also those who would be interested in interacting with the homosexuals among us, and the list just can't stop there. Real estate would see its fair share too from this recognition of homosexuals; I mean if heterosexual marriages see themselves settling their families in their own homes, what should stop a same-sex couple from acquiring their own home? It would not stir any unwarranted interference from neighbors, but strictly and only if, their neighbors' homosexual union was legally recognized.

And here's the big cake for the law-makers in this homosexual scene: if all the mentioned incentives arose in light of marriage and same-sex unions, not only would a good share of striving Kenyans grow financially, but so would the government from boosted tax returns! Oh sure! If the government can make money from the peasant's earnings, so can it from a homosexual's earnings. And maybe, just maybe, bigger sums of untaxed salaries for our dear law-makers...rather, those who initiate and push the Bill to an Act (law)!

Should this argument on the economic benefits of legalizing homosexuality and same-sex unions be sufficiently misinterpreted yet insufficiently suffice to be ignored, then we might as well disband all coffin makers! Surely it would be hypocrisy of the best order for us to turn hostile towards the coffin maker for making profits; who would make the coffins anyway if not they?

Finally, if by now you're not convinced that legalizing homosexual marriages is a boost for the economy, maybe you would be if were a lesbian, but I am not. And even if I were homosexual, it does not take sexual inclination to think outside the box!