Dispirited U.S. Gays Choosing Canada

[siliconefreak]

From Toronto's Globe and Mail:

By MARINA JIMÉNEZ
Wednesday, November 10, 2004

They're calling it the gay drain. Hundreds of well-heeled gay and lesbian lawyers, professors, educators and film directors from the U.S. are immigrating to Canada, drawn by the country's recognition of same-sex rights, unions and benefits.

More...

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20041110/GAYDRAIN10/TPNational/?query=marina

[JoshWatermanMN]

1. I wish this emigration to Canada nonsense would stop

Seriously. I know it sucks that the Neocons control everything now and are being utterly insuffferable about it, and I know I have been tempted to move as well (my friend in the UK was going to ask his sister to marry me just to try to get me out of the US!), but we aren't going to solve anything by leaving. America needs smart, dedicated progressives now more than ever.

[sui generis]

2. stand and fight

but keep your assets elsewhere!

We'll get through it. The ones that are leaving are pretty selfish, and they're doing exactly what the radical right wants them to: disappear.

[RedSock]

9. oh those selfish jews that left germany in the 30s

were they abandoning their country too?

[JoshWatermanMN]

10. Leaving the country

I assume this was not really a direct reply to my post, as I never said those who wish to leave the US were being selfish. Far from it; I indicated I was tempted to abandon ship myself.

While we are seeing some pretty ominous parallels between Neo-Con Amerika and Nazi Germany, I think this also underscores the importance of standing and fighting. If Amerika continues its relentless rightward drift and the Christian Taliban decides to take its agenda to even more imperialistic heights, what's to stop them from, eventually, ten or twenty or thirty years from now, reaching across the border to their "heathen" neighbors to the North? Where are we going to flee then? If we don't stand and fight and defend ourselves and try to fight the right, who is going to do it for us?

[newyawker99]

15. Hi JoshWatermanMN!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[JoshWatermanMN]

18. Thanks!!

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

3. This is something I haven't seen discussed too much

I thought of it a long time ago because my husband's and my biggest client is a friend who's gay and a dual citizen. If this country loses her or drives her out, the country loses another company, her employees lose their jobs, vendors like us lose a lot of money and so on. What a way for an idiotic country to shoot itself in the foot.

[Q3JR4]

4. "Smart, dedicated progressives"

some of which think that gays and lesbians should sit in the back of the bus waiting for our turn.

This probably does not apply to you, but why should America benefit when some in the party that is supposed to champion tolerance amongst all peoples are willing to compromise on the issue of our civil rights?

Personally, I'm thinking about moving as well. In a little less than a year's time, I'll have my physics degree and will make a decision then.

[siliconefreak]

6. I agree

I doubt that most of us will give up our U.S. citizenship even after becoming citizens of Canada.

I'll continue to vote in U.S. elections, but I won't expect much to change.

[JoshWatermanMN]

7. Hey, I totally understand where you are coming from

As a gay man, I think it is completely unacceptable to expect us to "sit in the back of the bus waiting for our turn." But fleeing the country isn't going to help anything. As others have pointed out, that is what the Right WANTS us to do. They want us to cut and run. They want to be rid of the "fags and dykes." While it may feel satisfying to flee the shitstorm of modern American politics and all the heartache and pain it engenders, remember the United States has a long arm when it comes to policy. One way or another, the failings of the United States reach well beyond its borders.

We need to fight here, and stop the cancer before it spreads.

[RunningFromCongress]

5. Good for them...

they're making the right decision; I'm sorry but if your state suddenly made a law for the sole purpose of reducing your rights as a HUMAN, you'd get the fuck out too. You don't think there would be a mass exodus from Georgia if the state passed a law saying white couples couldn't get married?

[Not Me]

8. My grandparents left Europe for a better life in the US...

One that was free of oppression and offered them freedom to live the way they wanted to.

How is this any different?

[sandnsea]

17. I agree

I think there is a better life in other countries and I don't know why people wouldn't just go if they could. If I was well off enough to come back and see my kids whenever I want, I would be so out of here. You can fight for this country without living here.

[Rockholm]

11. We have seriously considered moving too......

We are in Massachusetts where we are married. I will stay and fight, but as soon as my rights are taken away, the car will be packed and off I go.
I will comment that Massachusetts is a lovely shade of blue nd would certainly welcome all to move here.

[UpsideDownFlag]

12. good idea, imho. nt

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[UpsideDownFlag]

14. we probably shouldn't have pursued desegregation, either.

i mean, think of how many votes we lost in the south over that.

[Lisa]

16. Canada's gain!

Wealthy professionals with valuable skills ... at a time when we're short of doctors and a vast number of professors and teachers are getting set to retire ...

If Bush wants to throw out/drive away good tax-paying citizens, that's his loss.