As editorial director for the accounting titles in our group, I often get copied on letters written to the editors of other pubs, which include, as you may or may not know, Practical Accountant, Accounting Technology, WebCPA, CPA Wealth Provider and a series of special reports.
As you might imagine, some letters are complimentary, while others are highly critical. But until the other day, I never received a piece of correspondence that claimed one of our articles had encompassed a subject that was “against the laws of God.”
The irate reader, a CPA in the Midwest, had serious objections to an article that appeared in our quarterly CPA Wealth Provider publication regarding the financial planning ramifications for— dare we say it?
Same-sex couples.
He wrote that he was “offended by the nature and content” of the piece and accused us of poor judgment in publishing it. Not only did the reader feel same-sex marriages went counter to the Ten Commandments, but apparently against the laws of nature as well.
And to show that he was serious, he asked to have his name removed ASAP from our subscriber lists.
Somehow I had always clung to — if you’ll pardon the pun — a “belief” that accounting was sort of non-denominational. After all, we’re dealing with numbers, not theocratic philosophies.
The piece, written by a well-known authority on gay and lesbian finance issues, covered many of the traditional areas found in most financial planning articles and highlighted instances where same-sex couples need to take decidedly different strategies rather than structure their retirement on a traditional marriage model.
Now to be honest, as a happily married heterosexual male, I may not necessarily embrace the concept of same-sex unions. Nor do I want to invite a discourse on the legality of such relationships.
This despite the fact that I have been a guest at not one, but two, same-sex weddings.
But neither am I naïve enough to think that by virtue of a few yahoos waving hand-painted signs and loudly spewing assorted verses from the New Testament, will the movement simply fade away.
Trust me it won’t.
But on the other hand it does present an opportunity.
It’s like when someone asked actor/comedian Woody Allen his thoughts on bisexuality, he dryly replied. “Well, it doubles your chance for a date on Saturday night.”
Now, you can vent your anger when you see same-sex couples on TV tying the knot or engaging in acts of intimacy.
Or, you can sidestep the Jimmy Swaggert or Pat Robertson platform and view it as yet another avenue of income for your book of business. And unlike other revenue channels, this is one that is not likely to shrink or become the victim of a recession anytime soon.
