This week has been a busy one for LGBT news, with Sean Hayes giving his first interview to The Advocate, anti-gay California Senator Roy Ashburn admitting that he is gay, this atrocity in Virginia and this atrocity in Colorado. But most importantly, yesterday the first gay and lesbian weddings began in our nation’s capital (hooray!)
While I don’t want to take away from the fact that this is a huge leap forward for equal rights in our nation, I do want to take a step back as an LGBT communicator and look at what I feel are the two most important, irrefutable and practical implications of this issue – job creation and tourism dollars. Much as the case was in Iowa, same-sex marriage in the District isn’t just great news for thousands of couples across the East Coast - it’s great news for a struggling economy and a region that boasts one of the worst unemployment rates in the nation.
The Washington Post reports that a study conducted by The Williams Institute, a non-profit research center at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, determined that over a three-year period in Washington D.C., same-sex marriage would:
- Create 700 new wedding-related jobs
- Contribute $52.2 million to the local economy
- Generate $4.8 million in new sales tax dollars, $3.8 of which would come from out-of-state residents.
What’s more is that Forbes magazine estimates that if same-sex marriage was legalized across the entire nation, it would generate $16.8 BILLION for the economy. Let me repeat that - $16.8 BILLION. Surely this is the point where progressivism and practicality intersect, because in a time where jobs are scarce, tax revenues are at new lows and disposable income is nearly non-existent, how could anyone, regardless of personal feelings on same-sex marriage, blatantly refuse $16.8 billion?
In a perfect world, LGBT communicators could keep the argument for same-sex marriage where, in my opinion, it ought to be - centered on equality and civil rights, but perhaps the fiscal implications will resonate with the greater public.
For now, I just want to say congratulations to the couples married in D.C. yesterday and today and wish them a lifetime of love and happiness, and thank them for putting their gay dollars to work.


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