What The Economy Needs Is Gay Bridal Registry } Check NY Figures

  

The protestor's rallying cry may be more than a slogan. Extendingmarriage rights to same-sex couples can boost state and local economies, according to recent data from states where same-sex couples have the same marriage rights as opposite-sex couples.

From August to December of 2010, New York City's marriage bureau drew $2.07 million in total revenue, according to numbers from the City Clerk cited in the New York Post. After same-sex couples could legally marry beginning July 24 last year, revenue to the city's marriage bureau shot up to $2.26 million for the same period.

The increase in revenue can certainly be attributed to the increase in marriage licenses after same-sex couples could legally marry; the city issued roughly 5,000 more licenses from July 2011 to February 2012 than it did during that time period the previous year.

The boost in revenue isn't unique to New York. In December, a study from the Williams Instituteconcluded that expenditures toward wedding arrangements and tourism bolstered Iowa's economy by $12 to $13 million after the state legalized marriage equality in 2009. Same-sex marriages have increased the state's tax revenue by as much as $930,000.

In an earlier report, the Williams Institute examined wedding expenditures in the first years after same-sex couples won the right to marry in different states, claiming that marriage equality would lead to gains for businesses where more couples were spending on weddings.

These numbers consider costs of wedding accommodations and guests traveling for out-of-state same-sex weddings - about one-tenth of wedding guests come from out-of-state, the survey guesses - but they don't include spending on honeymoons or wedding gifts. Even conservative estimates of wedding expenditures show benefits for businesses.

The Williams data also point out that because many same-sex couples are older when they marry, they have more disposable income. Sure enough, a survey of  Massachusetts couples found that on average, resident same-sex couples spent 25 percent more on their weddings than different-sex couples.

Maryland recently became the eighth state to legalize marriage equality, just weeks after a federal appeals court ruled California's Proposition 8 unconstitutional. Marriage equality remains a hot topic in the 2012 presidential election, but until more states heed the call of LGBT activists, few will reap the financial benefits equality has to offer.

Camille Beredjick is a journalism student at Northwestern University and the founder and sole contributor of GayWrites.org, a daily LGBT news blog