President’s Support of Gay Marriage No Help for Gay Michigan Widow

The President's support of gay marriage has a lot of Michiganders talking about the issue. Arthur Mullen with the Mount Clemens Downtown Development Authority says he considers it an important issue because of what happened to a friend, Mark Dikowski.

Mullen helped to organize a "cash mob" fundraiser at Dikowski's floral shop recently because Dikowski's life has been turned upside down by the sudden loss of his partner.

"They had just bought a house together, pretty much their dream home. They were getting their wallpaper delivered that they had ordered from England. Mark's partner passed away unexpectedly of a heart attack at 55."

That was two years ago, and because Michigan law does not support gay marriage or civil unions, and the family of Mark's partner doesn't either, Mark has been in and out of court trying to save his home. With the deadline just a few days away, neighbors and friends have been swarming his floral shop with business in hopes of raising money and awareness of issues facing same sex couples.

Mullen says to him, this is a horrible example of the need for equal rights for committed couples.

"Here is a couple that lived together monogamously, in a loving caring relationship for 17 years. Mark has had very little time to really mourn Gary's death because he's been in this limbo about property and where he's going to live."

Mullen says by not having his name on the deed and not having any kind of legal arrangement, Mark is in a precarious situation.

"So now what's happening is, Mark is being forced to buy his house back from his brother-in-law."

Cash mobs encourage groups of people to go into a local business and spend a lot of money all at once to give the owner a bit of an economic stimulus. Mullen says he hopes boosting business at Mark Dikowski's shop will help him to put his life back together again.