The Boston Globe reports today that the Massachusetts Senate will vote on an act to repeal a 1913 state law that prevents gay and lesbian couples from most other states from marrying in Massachusetts. It seems that the repeal could spark an economic boom for Massachusetts, pumping more than a $100 million into that state's economy within the new few years. I wonder if Massachusetts would then see all kinds of wedding chapels springing up around the countryside.
According to the Globe, a study conducted for the state's Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development predicts that the repeal would promote an economic stimulus in hotel bookings, banquets, and wedding cakes. What, no flowers?
The Williams Institute, a nonprofit organization at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Law that studies policies, including economic issues, relating to sexual orientation did the study. The Institute estimates that 32,200 same-sex couples from elsewhere would travel to Massachusetts to get married over the next three years. That would pump $111 million into the economy and yield another $5 million in marriage license fees and sales and occupancy taxes.
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