Opinion: Gay marriage: good for the economy?
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The California Supreme Court got a lot of love at this weekend’s Pride Parade in West Hollywood, but UCLA deserves at least a peck on the cheek, too. As The Times’ Alana Semuels recently reported, the university released a study last week (pdf) that shows, ‘Same-sex unions could provide a $370-million shot in the arm to the state economy over the next three years.’ (Guess Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t kidding, after all.) But BusinessWeek warns:
Gay couples are projected to spend $684 million on flowers, cakes, hotels, photographers and other wedding services over the next three years -- so long as voters don’t put a halt to the same-sex marriage spree, according to a study by the Williams Institute at University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
That’s a pretty sizable caveat -- and that’s assuming that many same-sex couples themselves will sign on. Take the Opinion section’s own Robin Rauzi, who’s not so sure that ‘until death do us part’ will last this time:
It may seem surprising that we’d hesitate at all. But would you want your marriage put to a statewide popular vote? You can’t be a gay person in America, even in California, and be a complete stranger to discrimination. But this is different. This is the state -- my state, my government -- throwing open one arm to us, yet holding the other poised to slap us hard.
After all, as Rick Wartzman points out in today’s Op-Ed section, California is a land of ideological extremes -- and some more conservative counties are taking matters into their own hands. Besides, some Californians may already be shooting themselves in the financial foot. While business is booming in West Hollywood, says NPR, it could be partly because other areas are rejecting gay couples:
[Boutique bakery] Cake and Art has also gotten business from couples who encountered problems with companies closer to home. [Employee Cody Christensen] cites a lesbian couple who drove more than an hour to order a cake from the bakery. ‘They went to bakeries in their area, and they were actually turned away. So they drove two hours to here, from San Bernardino, and we were happy to help them.’
Time to pull out your Magic-8 Ball:
*Photo: David McNew / Getty Images