Each decade gives rise to a new social cause. In the past fifty years, America has seen movements emerge for seniors, women, gays, racial minorities, and people with disabilities.

While society’s first reaction to a new cause usually involves disbelief and resistance, eventually a place is made at the table of power for the newcomer.

Whether it is collective bargaining by unions, legal advocacy in court, political maneuvering in legislatures, or economic deliberations in corporate board rooms, government and corporate leaders have been forced to listen to those who were previously ignored. That is because each new group has managed to elbow its way to the microphone.

But what about single people? Don’t they deserve a place at the table too?

More than 80 million unmarried adults live in the United States. In most large cities unmarried adults are now the majority.

However, because single people are a silent majority, they have made easy targets for social, legal, and economic discrimination.

Presidential and congressional candidates are talking past unmarried voters. When deals are struck in collective bargaining, unions forget that a large percent of their members are single.

Some 21 states violate the privacy rights of single people with criminal laws prohibiting private sexual conduct between consenting adults.

Federal law does not outlaw marital status discrimination. In fact, federal law penalizes unmarried Americans by taxing employee benefits for their domestic partners and by

taking up to 60% of the estate of unmarried adults when they die. Married people can escape this huge tax bite.

All states prohibit discrimination on the basis of race and religion and sex, but only 22 states forbid marital status discrimination.

Many cities give domestic partner health benefits to their workers. But some cities limit them to same-sex couples, forcing heterosexual partners to marry in order to get equal benefits.

Some judges disrespect unmarried couples by referring to them as "meretricious," an old legal term that pertains to prostitution.

Lawmakers or judges in 37 states stigmatize children born to unmarried parents by labeling them as "bastards" or "illegitimate children."

It appears that single people today are where seniors were in the 1950s – unorganized, silent, and ignored as a group. For seniors, after the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) was formed, the picture began to change. AARP is now the largest organization in the nation with 30 million members. When AARP calls, politicians and corporate executives listen.

But aren’t there thousands of singles’ groups in the country? Yes, but they are limited to dating, social, and recreational activities. There has been no educational and political advocacy for singles’ rights.

That is why the American Association for Single People has been created. AASP will serve as a collective voice for millions of unmarried Americans so their needs are considered when important policy decisions are being made.