Beisdes advocating for the rights to marry regardless of sexual orientation on the basis of civil rights and basic human decency, Oneida Eye’s Editors have also previously cited the potential positive economic impact that legalizing same-sex marriage at the Tribal and state level would have on the local area, including the Tribe’s casino and hotel operations as well as general tourism, and also that doing so will attract businesses and talented potential employees who would otherwise avoid a regressive state or community that ignorantly and oppressively refuses to honor same-sex marriage as is currently the case with Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin.
Now the local media is acknowledging those facts:
According to the 2010 census there are about 9,000 same-sex domestic partnerships in Wisconsin.
In Minnesota, about 10,000. Same sex marriage became legal there in 2013, at that time the Williams Institute estimated wedding and tourism spending would increase $40-million in the first three years of legalization, netting the state more than $3-million in tax revenue. …
Last February, a group of 100 companies including Google, Facebook, Hewlett Packard, Morgan Stanley and Nike filed a legal brief in response to California’s Proposition 8 saying that banning same-sex marriage [would] “inflict real and wholly unnecessary injury on business.”
And “Such laws also make it difficult to recruit, hire, and retain some of the top employees who choose not to live in states where they are relegated to second-class-citizen status and prefer instead other states (or countries) where (this group of companies) may not have offices or open positions where their fundamental right to marry is recognized.”
Same-sex marriage in Wisconsin could be one more recruiting tool for human resource managers.
It’s time for the Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin to change Tribal marriage law to allow and honor same-sex marriage.
To maintain the status quo is not only an affront to civil rights and human decency, but also doesn’t make economic sense for encouraging tourism and/or building a stronger local economy.
UPDATE:
- Journal Sentinel: State changes course, processes paperwork for same-sex marriages
