Gay Marriage Pulls In $259 Million For NYC

New York mayor Michael Bloomberg not only celebrated gay marriage rights in New York City, he presided over the first marriage in 2011, a couple from his own mayor’s office. It turns out his support of gay marriage not only made sense from a humanistic point of view, but also from a good old American economics stance. NYC in 2011 earned $259 million from same-sex marriages.

According to official city records more than 8,200 gay and lesbian couples received marriage licenses after the law went into effect last year, that’s more than 10 percent of the cities 75,000 wedding licenses issued in 211.

Since approving gay marriage in the state of New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has watched as more than 200,000 people have traveled to the state to attend weddings, claiming more than 235,000 hotel room night at a daily rate that averages $275 per night.

Throw in gas and food purchases, tourism revenue from visitors to the state who stay longer and even wedding guests who choose to buy a gift for the same-sex couples when they arrive in the state and its easy to see why so much money is being earned from the addition 8,200 weddings.

The sheer economic impact of the gay-marriage law could push other state lawmakers to act on similar bills. After New York City approved gay marriage a similar bill was vetoed by Chris Christie in New Jersey, a veto that may have potentially cost his own state upwards of $250 million.

Same-sex marriage is also legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia. New York was the sixth state to approve same-sex marriage.