Room on Michigan’s plate for both jobs, social issues (opinion column)

Kevin VanAntwerpen

Are social issues really an issue?

Of course they are. The word “issue” is right there in the name. But when it comes to equal rights, Michigan gubernatorial candidate Rick Snyder seems to disagree.

During a Q&A session at the Wealthy Theater in Grand Rapids Thursday, a panelist asked Snyder about his stance on gay marriage. Even though he often advertises that he’s not a career politician, Snyder used a play straight out of the Richard Nixon handbook and diverted the audience’s attention to something no one has heard about this election – jobs.

“I respect that people have strong feelings about these issues,” Snyder said. “It’s not to minimize their importance on an individual basis at all. But if you look at it, we’ve lost a million jobs. We’ve got to get people working again.”

Snyder promised he would respect Michigan’s constitutional definition of marriage — that it must be between man and woman.

Admittedly, jobs are one of the most important issues Michigan currently faces. But come on, Rick. What happened to multitasking? One large issue on the table does not mean that other issues are not important as well. That’s similar to saying just because they have chocolate cake at the dessert buffet, you shouldn’t go back for the cookies, pudding and cream puffs. Let me tell you, my stomach has room for all of it.

But here’s why it’s so confusing. With the recent coverage of suicides as a result of homophobic bullying, how can any candidate for governor – whether Republican, Democrat or independent – say that equal rights is not an issue that needs to at least be talked about?

“These suicides are gut-wrenching,” said assistant director of Grand Valley State University’s LGBT Resource Center, Colette Beighley. “For the first time, I think the American public is seeing the result of homophobic bullying. LGBT youth have always been at the greatest risk for completed suicides, and it’s just now coming into awareness. As the American public realizes how at-risk these kids are, it will hopefully change some hearts and minds.”

It should be noted that Snyder was very moderate during his sweater-vest years as CEO of Gateway Computers. He established benefits for domestic-partnership couples, something that has become common practice for many Forbes 500 companies in order to diversify the workforce. But is that enough?

“Being in favor of domestic partnerships and civil unions does not mean full equality, “ Beighley said. “Separate is not equal.”

Now don’t get me wrong – I completely understand why some people may fear equality across the board. Right now, marriage is the only thing us straight guys have left. We can’t sing (please don’t tell me you thought anyone on Glee is straight), we can’t dance (at least not like Freddie Mercury) and we’re so bad at dressing ourselves that they made a TV show about it (who would’ve known there were so many different shades of one color?).

We’re on the defensive.

But what if we tried to learn from the LGBT community instead of trying to excommunicate them? If you sat down and had a conversation with the gay kid in choir next to you, you’d learn that it took him 12 years of practice and dairy avoidance to develop that singing voice. Something you could do too, if you just tried.

Maybe then you’d learn that, except for the right to marry, you’re not all that different.

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