Gay marriage will boost the economy by $166 million
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It's not just same-sex couples in Maine, Maryland and Washington who are celebrating the recent legalization of gay marriage -- the state treasury also has something to sing about. New research suggests that marriage equality will boost the states' economies in a big way.
The Williams Institute at UCLA Law reported Monday that wedding spending by same-sex couples in the three newest states to approve gay marriage may generate more than $166 million over the next three years.
The Institute estimates that same-sex couples in Maine will collectively spend $15.5 million, Maryland couples will spend $62.6 million and Washingtonians will spend $88.5 million on weddings. The estimates are based on 2010 U.S. Census data and each state's average wedding spending. The researchers assumed that half of the states' same-sex couples (that's nearly 18,000 of about 35,000 gay couples in all three states combined) will marry within three years.
Though same-sex marriage is already legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Washington, D.C., Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and Massachusetts, on Nov. 6 voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington were the first in the country to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote (in the other states, marriage equality was legalized by state legislation).Minnesota voters also rejected a ban on same-sex marriage.
Economists have followed gay marriage's impact on the wedding industry and local economies since Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex unions in 2004. The Williams Institute found that from May 2004 to September 2008, the Massachusetts economy enjoyed a $111 million boost as a result of gay marriage legalization.
And in July, CNN Money reported that the legalization of gay marriage in New York boosted New York City's economy by $259 million in just one year.
“The same number of people have been getting married every year for the last 20 years,” Carley Roney, co-founder and editor in chief of TheKnot.com, told The Daily Beast. “Gay marriage is literally the only thing that has the potential to change the size of the wedding industry.”
I wish that was more but maybe one day