Once upon a time, inner city slums from the Hillcrest neighborhood in San Diego to Washington Square West in Philadelphia were filled with prostitutes, torn apart by violence and decried as terrible environments to raise a family. It was a sad and hopeless situation, to say the least.

But, by the 1970s, hope returned to many of these neighborhoods - and not in the form of then Hawaiian wonderkid, Barack Obama. Gays and lesbians and other members of the LGBT community began moving to some of the most rundown areas of America's inner cities. There, the "first mover" minorities pulled an "Amy Adams" as they enlisted the locals in a decades-long "Happy Working Song" setting up shops, beautifying the homes and parks and developing an active sense of community.

These communities have now gentrified, with skyrocketing property values and according to demographer Gary Gates, increased creative output and technological progress. And they've also become wonderful places to raise a family, as the influx of married heterosexual couples in San Fran's Castro district can attest.

And everyone lived happily - wait, no, not everyone. Those "heterosexual married couples" are now the ones in the sad and hopeless situation. As former Gov. Eliot Spitzer reminds us, married men turning to prostitution is as problematic as ever. National Crime Statistics reported domestic violence occurs in at least 60 percent of marriages.

According to Divorce Magazine, the existence of which is its own sign of trouble, approximately half of married couples last 15 years before splitting - right at a time when it can affect children the most. At this moment, countless marriages are marred by prostitutes and mistresses, torn apart by violence and decried as terrible environments to raise a family.

I'd say it's about time to send in the gays and gentrify the state of marriage in America. And again, there is hope - and this time Barack Obama can help if he has the courage to do so. Today, many members of the LGBT community desire only to settle down, get married and raise a family.

They seek to demonstrate real 'family values' to a heterosexual population full of broken homes.

And yet in most of the country, both the chapel doors and city hall have been closed to gay couples, who at best, are told to head out to a field somewhere and hold what Vermont termed a "civil union." That is, go ahead and drink the water, just use a separate but "equal" drinking fountain.

Some - even in the gay community - probably don't mind recognizing that marriage is a broken institution. Others are content with a separate institution, existing in a "we have the stars, let's not ask for the moon" state of mind.

That response is one of a quitter, not a fixer. Yes, the institution of marriage is broken. So start by reaffirming the strength of the family unit with a wave of new marriages across the country, by couples that have already demonstrated their bonds by holding each other for better, for worse, in sickness or in health for years. It's probably the most "conservative" thing I've ever suggested.

Andrew Sullivan, a conservative writer, said giving gay couples the right to marry would strengthen not just new gay families but also their family roots by including them in the same ceremony as their parents and siblings. Gay marriage isn't about religion, he said, "It's about family. It's about love."

And he's right. It's time for the presidential contenders to stop saying privately "I can't" to gays desiring the right to marry in this country.

An Elton John concert or pride parade appearance isn't going to cut it anymore, Hillary. "Building bridges" doesn't work with the hellfire crowd, Barack. Flip-flopping on gay marriage issues to win a primary is the opposite of courage, John. Gays have already restored inner-city communities across America, let them now try to restore dignity to the state of the American family by giving them the chance to say "I do."

Kevin Eggleston is a sophomore political science and television, radio and film major. His columns appear every Tuesday. He can be reached at kmeggles@syr.edu