Is Gay Marriage Good for the Economy?
Image by bobster1985 via Flickr
As we witness a truly historic shift in attitudes concerning the issue of gay marriage, one interesting argument has been put forth that will, especially in these tough economic times, only bolster the case for equal rights: Gay marriage is good for the economy. Numerous studies and articles have looked into this claim, and, for the most part, seem to agree:
…the Congressional Budget Office has concluded that if all fifty states and the federal government extended the rights and obligations of marriage to same-sex couples, the federal government would benefit by nearly $1 billion each year.
Where does that money come from? Taxes and fees make up a large chunk. But think about all the businesses who benefit from marriage ceremonies. Caterers, florists, restaurants, hotels. Gays make up roughly 5%-10% of the US population. If we were to legalize their marriages across the country, that would mean a whole lot more weddings. And think of all the money the lawyers would make when a percentage of them got divorces! Hey, you take the good with the bad in this life.
One recent study by the University of California’s Williams Institute forecast that before Prop. 8 passed, half of all of the state’s gay couples planned to wed. That would have created at least 2,200 new jobs:
The study estimates that over the next three years, gay weddings will generate $64 million in additional tax revenue for the state, and another $9 million in marriage-license fees for counties.
The Northeast is rushing ahead with marriage equality. Yesterday, the Connecticut General Assembly became the second state legislature (Vermont was the first) to vote in favor of extending full rights to gay couples. Last week, New York’s Governor, David Patterson, put forth a similar measure to New York’s legislature.
In terms of capitalizing on potential economic impact, the timing of when a state legalizes gay marriage is important. After all, as we have witnessed in Massachusetts and California, gay couples will flock to your state if their unions are recognized, and start spending their cash.
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…Yet another reason to be for gay marriage. ~DD
D,
Agreed.
Certainly they’ve got the wedding photographer and catering-industry vote locked up.
M,
Don’t forget the cakes!
The real economic benefits won’t into play for a while, when an army of lawyers is called in to figure out how alimony and child-support will work, and a whole specialized field of same-sex marriage couseling is well and truly established.
Then’s when the real money’ll be a flowin’
James,
It will be interesting to see if gay couples get divorced at rates as high as straight ones.
Don’t see why not. Marital misery would seem to be an equal-opportunity phenomenon.
M,
My guess, based on exactly zero data, is that gay divorce rates will initially be lower than in the straight community. Why? Because their marriages are new and historic. In time, however, I think you’re right. Nobody has the misery market cornered.
That could well be true. But even though the marriage licenses are new, the relationships aren’t. I can’t see how there could be much—if any—difference. After all, that lack of difference is precisely what this new wave of legislation is finally acknowledging…
Yes. It’s also good for civil rights.
M,
As I said, speculation on my part, and I agree that, over time, the divorce rates will probably be mirror images.
R,
Yes, indeed.
GAY MARRIAGE SLOWS OR STOPS RELIGION’S CAUSING THE PROPAGATION OF GAYS TO A DEGREE OF INCIDENCE FAR BEYOND WHAT NORMALLY WOULD BE EXPERIENCED.
BASED ON:
http://sites.google.com/site/holychanges
sites.google.com/site/holychanges
The inquisition against gays is intended to make straight guys afraid
of being
wrongly ferreted out as gay so as to induce population growth
(originally allowed ancient despots
to rumble.)
As was the case in associating political foes with communism,
scapegoating gays as foes
of religious dogma, and thus running afoul of recent political power,
was intended primarily to make straight guys afraid of being wrongly
ferreted out as gay.
Associating political foes with the scapegoated enables corrupt
leadership to thrive.
The inquisition against the gays induced gays to marry heterosexually.
Ann Coulter was quick to say she thought Al Gore seemed gay.
Note Sarah Palin advocated the religious right line entirely and her
husband is reported to have been (I don’t personally know this) a
member, if not a leader, of the sort of separationist organization
(Alaskan Independence Party) you might otherwise expect to find in
Sarah Palin’s place of origin (Idaho, home of the Aryan Nation.) That
is also the home of Lou Dobbs, to me leader of the scapegoating of
Mexicans
business.
As the gay gene only passes maternally, there are in religious
communities 3 of them per male gay, but they enjoy a holier than thou
existence as the men are the scapegoats of their own religion.
7/16/93, “N.Y.Times ,” Though psychiatrists previously considered
man- hating mother the primary cause of male homosexuality, the
N.I.H.’s Dean Hamer
discovers the gay gene only passes maternally by way of an
overwhelming statistical proof.
(Natl. Instit. of Health: Science, 7/16/93 and N.Y. Times, 7/16/93,
on
page 1:)
NO WONDER psychiatrists considered man-hating mother the prime
cause of male homosexuality until discovered/apx. 75% of gay men
carry
Xq28. WOMEN CAN GET ONE OR TWO COPIES (Xq28 IS ON THE FEMALE
CHROMOSOME. MEN CAN ONLY GET ONE COPY. WOMEN ARE 3 X LIKELIER TO HAVE
AT LEAST ONE. DOUBLE X’s RECENTLY FOUND IN MANY GENES TO NOT CANCEL
OUT.
Hamer’s discovery first covered in “Science,” 7/16/93, and “N.Y.
Times”,7/16/93, on page 1, by Natalie Angier, incl. “THE LATEST
RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE NEWLY REPORTED GENETIC FACTOR IS PASSED
THROUGH THE MATERNAL LINE, A CURIOUS TWIST GIVEN THAT IN THE PAST
PSYCHIATRY HAS HELD WOMEN AT LEAST PARTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR FOSTERING
THEIR SONS’ HOMOSEXUALITY.”
THE GENE RESPONSIBLE FOR MOST GAYS ONLY PASSES MATERNALLY.
In “A Painful Discovery,” Carren Strock (“Newsweek” columnist) said
most lesbians are ultra ultra late in self-awareness
(from me:) Obviously even Eleanor Roosevelt couldn’t have realized it
till very late in life.
Breedlove: aside from a correlation with left-handedness, the
statistical connection between later-born sons and homosexuality
is purely statistical, a external
factor likely to explain.
Leslie Stahl reported on a Northwestern
study that included the first part but omitted the following.
ANDREA CAMPERIO-CIANI OF THE UNIVERSITY OF PADUA
DISCOVERED THE PREDICTED EXTERNAL FACTOR.
Lesbians married heterosexually (for instance out of a lack of self-
awareness, to escape the inquisition against gays, for economic
support, particularly prior to the women’s lib movement 40 years ago,
etc.) have higher fecundity (they produce more babies.)
(Stahl later aired what I personally thought
(opinion) was a lying-in-wait job on famous venture capitalist Tom
Perkins,
(and to me:) portraying him as an ego-deficient inadequate fool.)
Has Stahl been cognizant of the process of making straight guys
afraid of being
wrongly ferreted out as gay and taking advantage of its aftermath?
“20-20,” 2000, “marriage counselors have seen a sudden
influx of middle aged married women with children complaining of
“lacking something,” “not knowing what it is,” and ultimately
accepting that they don’t want to go further without accepting that
they in fact are lesbians.
KPBS, “MEXICO,” 2000: a man interviewed in Mexico “has as many babies
as possible to avoid being wrongly ferreted out as gay”
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/01/16/eveningnews/main2365036.shtml
CBS News: 1/16/2007:
More Women Saying “I Don’t”
Analysis Finds 51% Of Women Were Single In 2005; Shift Partly Because
More Women Work
Hence it is, of course, the religious masculine insecure annoying paranoid and the
religious man-hater are both among the likeliest persons to carry (a) gay gene(s.)
It has long been known there is far more homosexuality in Western nations than
in Eastern ones.
Paranoia is Greek for “all knowing,” the foundation of Western
religion’s omnicient god, in psychiatry, paranoids being people
assuming that inasmuch as they’re all knowing, if someting goes
wrong, it can’t be their fault.)
Religious women, holier than thou
(including license to judge, even scapegoat, and encouraged to engage
in hyposcrisy and denial.)
ENTER THROUGH THE DISCLAIMER PAGE:
http://sites.google.com/site/holychanges
sites.google.com/site/holychanges
This site is under construction but open for your viewing.
It follows my original site, still maintained though suffering from
(a)
pop-up ad(s,) albeit it (they) are innocuous
http://historyoffear.tripod.com/
historyoffear.tripod.com
mirror:
http://holygenes.tripod.com/
holygenes.tripod.com
Ghandi said:
First they ignore you.
Then they laugh at you.
Then they fight you.
Then you win.
about me:
I asked myself when I was about in my pre-teens, when I first saw
this done among adults, what would it require on my part to make me
enjoy
making females afraid of being wrongly ferreted out as gay; to judge
them on their femininity to others, let alone to themselves, in
front of their faces; or, to gratuitously try limiting them. (or to
even
care.
witchdoctor,
Thanks for your comment!
The Palin reference in my posting is based on (only) my personal opinion and expectation that family effects concomitant to the issues discussed include
wives/mothers being self-centered or intensely self-centered due to the privilege granted to judge, even scapegoat.
The husbands / fathers will be variously masculine insecure, inadequate, paranoid, angry, self-centered due to lack of personal worth or self-respect.
Of course, my take on any public family, whether or not associated with the religious right, of necessity reflects my own opinion, and, of course, I do not in any way know the state of any aspect of any part of the psychological profile of any member of the Palin family. I feel justified in placing this posting follow-up inasmuch as the Palins support an active political element that is commited to an antagonistic, inquisitional religious tradition and that wishes that tradition to be ingrained in the law of the land.
[...] Turns out Marriage Equality just might be a boon to the economy – especially certain sectors. David Knowles explains why. [...]