In 1997, Alaskans voted in support of a marriage-limitation amendment to our state constitution. It was not a close vote, but I'm proud to say that I was one of the 30 percent who voted against it. I feel even stronger today that this amendment is a black mark on our history comparable to Jim Crow laws in the south.
Clinging to a notion of family as "one man, one woman" with the potential of some biological children strikes me as just plain bone-headed. Modern, urban families are nothing like the agrarian families of 100 years ago, not to mention the polygamous families of the Old Testament. Families change because the world changes.
But here's something else to think about: Just how much damage to the Alaskan economy did we do 12 years ago?
PROVINCETOWN - All the flowers, cakes, invitations, tuxedos and horse-drawn carriages purchased or rented for same-sex nuptials in Massachusetts has added an estimated $111 million to the state's economy, according to a new report from The Williams Institute at the University of California School of Law.
$111 million in five years in one town!. If Alaskans had voted down the marriage limitation amendment 12 years ago, we would have injected millions more into our economy. Think about it. If we had allowed the court rulings about same sex marriage to stand, Alaska would have been the pioneer state, a premier destination for an enthusiastic new niche market in wedding travel. There are towns in Alaska -- Palmer is one of them -- that are perfect wedding destinations. We have everything we need: hotels and B&Bs close by, a community center, florists, restaurants.
Not only that, but tourism attracts talent: engineers, software designers, economists, musicians, -- what-have-you. And talent creates jobs. Many of the people who live here today, contributing to Alaska's wealth and character, started as tourists.
The sad thing is, the marriage limitation amendment was completely out of character for Alaska. Alaska has always been an open-minded, accepting place, a 'live and let live' kind of state. Bigotry should have no place here.
Now is the time to repeal the family limitation amendment -- and if the folks in the tourist industry have any sense, they'll be the ones to lead the charge.
David Cheezem is a poet, business owner and sometime politician with a proven ability to gracefully, if dramatically, lose an election. He has published poems and essays in The Cartier Street Review, caffeinedestiny.com, The Frontiersman, the Anchorage Daily News, The Christian Science Monitor, and The Houston Chronicle.
This column first appeared on Cheezem's group blog, Think Alaska.