After winning a vote to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples residing in Massachusetts, LGBT activists are moving on to the next target: rescinding a 1913 law that has been used to prevent out-of-state same-sex couples from having their nuptials here. (The law was originally used to prevent out-of-state interracial couples from marrying in the Bay State.) Some are deriding the move, however, as an effort to turn Massachusetts into the “Las Vegas of gay marriage.”
Now, I don’t like the idea of drive-through chapels on the Mass Pike (though I’ll concede that putting a few on 93 would give people something to do while stuck in rush-hour traffic). Still, one study has estimated that Massachusetts could see new spending over $100 million if it permitted out-of-state same-sex couples to marry.* New Jersey could see spending of almost $234 million, and New York state could gain a $137 million profit from out-of-state same-sex couples who came to marry there. A less rigorous 2004 study estimated that Vegas itself could net between $27 million and 30 million in revenues from same-sex weddings, were they to become legal in Nevada.
Even leaving room for estimation, it’s clear that same-sex weddings would have a positive financial impact. That’s more money for schools, roads, social services, and all the other good things a state provides. (And no, the studies claim civil unions wouldn’t have the same effect. They don’t offer the full equality that would motivate out-of-staters to travel for their ceremonies.)
So, even if opening up same-sex marriage to out-of-staters would turn Massachusetts into the “Vegas of gay marriage,” I’m all for it, even if it means having a few Elvis-impersonating drag kings around to officiate. (Nothing against drag kings; I’ve just never understood the whole fascination—by anyone—with mimicking Elvis.) Bring ’em on—and tell them that clam bakes are great for a reception. That’s one thing we have up on the original Vegas.
*”Three Swank Cities are Becoming Marriage Meccas for Gay Couples,” Boston Herald, March 4, 2004, cited in “Economic Benefits from Same-Sex Weddings in New Jersey,” December 2006.