HAMILTON: Teen, not gay, marriage is issue

June 20, 2008 10:44 am

— New York Times reporters Jeremy W. Peters and Danny Hakim explained in a most excellent way New York Gov. David Paterson’s position on gay marriage in their May 30 article entitled, “How Governor Set His Stance on Gay Rights.”
In the article, the reporters cited how, as youths, both he and his younger brother would spend the nights with a gay, male couple who were friends of Paterson’s parents whenever the parents left town. As result of the loving and safe care that uncles Stanley and Ronald would give the youths, the governor learned an exceptional degree of tolerance that would lead him to his decision to order state agencies to accept the licenses of gays and lesbians who married in states and countries other than New York, where such marriages remain illegal.
Upon reading Peters’ and Hakim's article, it made me think back several years.
While the governor’s focus on this issue is understandable, given the circumstances of his upbringing, his position is not universally accepted by those he governs and they present a real Murphy Brown scenario that may not bode well for New York, its coffers, or its future fiscal stability.
For those of you who are too young to remember, Murphy Brown was a single, highly-paid, attractive, intelligent, fictional television character played by popular actress Candace Bergen in the early ‘90s. Dan Quayle, then vice-president to G. H. W. Bush, criticized the show’s producers as creating a negative role model for youthful American girls when they wrote the character’s star as unmarried and pregnant.
Quayle cited that while Brown could make and support her decision to become pregnant, too many of America's young could not support their babies out of wedlock and would depend upon the public to provide such support. While what he said was politically incorrect, and likely contributed to the thrashing that Bill Clinton delivered in that 1992 election, there is little doubt to the correctness of what he implied: One size does not fit all.
As a youth, Gov. Paterson was rich, especially as compared to most people who lived in the Harlem where he grew up. Additionally, when Paterson’s parents returned from their out-of-town junkets, their two sons returned to a well-heeled, two-parent home: One where the parents were actually married to each other. In today’s New York, these factors make Paterson the exception, especially among African-Americans – such as himself and me, rather than the rule; and unwed teenage mothers is the issue that is gnawing at the underbelly of New York’s piggy-bank, not unwed gay and lesbian couples, such as uncles Stanley and Ronald.
Where one comes out of an argument is generally and largely contingent upon the point where one enters that argument. While teen pregnancy is declining in the state, and an interest in gay marriage is increasing, neither teen pregnancy nor gay marriage is the real issue. Teen pregnancy and gay relationships are as old as civilization; what is relatively new is pregnant teens not getting married and are rewarded by the state with benefit packages for not doing so and gays getting married and being rewarded by the state for doing so.
Can New York state afford either?
As we are taxing our remaining citizens to death by spending tons of money educating the youth who play by the rules, only to later send them south for the economic opportunities that they can earn there, there also are the echoes of once-presidential candidate Ross Perot's giant sucking sound returning to New York in the busloads of southerners who come here to be given our generous social welfare benefits.
Our talented governor must serve the people of our state by focusing on real marriage issues, rather than the politically correct ones that fit a very small percentage of the Murphy Brown types: We must encourage our youth by rewarding those who take responsibility for themselves with educations and jobs and close the loopholes that have crippled both the morale and fiscal condition of our state.

Ken Hamilton is a Niagara Falls resident. He can be contacted at Kenhamilton930@aol.com

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.