Waiting For A Boom In Gay Marriages
Providence Business News
By Denise Perreault
August 11, 2008

A new study predicts that the Massachusetts economy will grow by $37 million a year – or $111 million over three years – because out-of-state, same-sex couples can now come to the Bay State to get married.

So far, however, there is no evidence of a boom in the wedding industry in Massachusetts or Rhode Island. About a dozen businesses that specialize in weddings, particularly restaurants and banquet halls, were contacted by Providence Business News, and none is planning special promotions to lure gay brides and grooms.

Some say they already do business with gays. “Every wedding here is special,” said Ramona McGovern, of McGovern’s On The Water in the south end of Fall River, when asked if any special plans are in the works for gay weddings. She estimated that McGovern’s sees about 10 gay weddings a year and said those couples are treated just the same as any others. With a total capacity of 445 in two separate banqueting rooms, McGovern’s is family-owned and has been in business more than 35 years.

“We’re doing what we always do,” said Liz Amaral, director of sales at Christina’s, a banquet hall in Foxboro, Mass., that can accommodate up to 840 people. Christina’s has “standard wedding packages” that Amaral said are the same for everyone. “We try to keep everything consistent.” Three gay weddings have been booked so far for 2009, she said.

The Massachusetts Legislature last month repealed a 1913 state law that barred out-of-state couples of any sexual orientation from getting married in the Bay State. The repeal became effective July 31 when Gov. Deval Patrick signed it into law. Rather than any potential economic appeal, Patrick emphasized the importance of treating all people equally, and he called the 1913 law racist because it was enacted to prevent interracial marriages. The repeal shows that in Massachusetts “equal means equal,” Patrick said.

Rhode Island gays have been able to go to Massachusetts to wed since 2006 when, in response to a suit brought by Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Ocean State residents can marry in the Bay State because Rhode Island law does not explicitly prohibit out-of-state unions. New Mexico gays have been able to marry in Massachusetts since 2007.

California in June became the second state to allow gay marriage. A study by the Charles R. Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy (which also did the Massachusetts study), predicts that same-sex marriages will bring nearly $700 million to the California wedding industry and almost $65 million in new revenue to the state budget over three years. Some 70,000 same-sex couples from out of state are expected to marry in California, according to the June report.

Under Secretary Daniel O’Connell the Mass. Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development commissioned a study on the impact of a repeal of the 1913 law on the state’s economy. The study was released June 30 by the Williams Institute, a liberal think tank that is part of the University of California School of Law. Authors were M.V. Lee Badgett, research director at the Williams Institute and a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and R. Bradley Sears, the institute’s executive director.

Allowing nonresident same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts, the study said, would boost the state’s economy by $111 million over a three-year period. In addition, state and local tax revenue should increase by $1.75 million annually due to sums received from marriage licenses, sales and occupancy taxes. Some 330 new jobs would be created in the state over three years.

The Williams Institute report estimates that 32,200 same-sex couples from across the country will come to Massachusetts to wed, with most of them – 21,321 – from nearby New York state. The study arrived at the $37 million in annual economic growth by figuring that each couple would spend between $3,397 and $3,962 on wedding and tourism expenses.

The study notes that its figures are conservative because they do not take into account spending by wedding guests and other tax revenue besides sales and occupancy. Also, the average cost of a wedding in the United States during the next three years will be $29,264, the study said, citing The Wedding Report, a wedding industry research group.

Between 2004, when gay marriage was legalized in Massachusetts, and September of 2007, the most recent date with figures available, there were 10,500 same-sex weddings in the Bay State with most of those – 6,121 – taking place in the first six months after legalization. There were 2,060 gay weddings in the state in 2005, 1,442 in 2006 and 867 in the first eight months of 2007.

Badgett told PBN that her research shows there are approximately 3,100 same-sex couples in Rhode Island, based on annual averages from 2004-2006 found in American Community Surveys, nationwide surveys similar to the census but done more frequently. She predicted that more gay Rhode Islanders than usual will marry in Massachusetts as publicity about the repeal of the 1913 law intensifies “so more people are talking about it.”

“The down side,” she added, “is divorce, that may be a bit of a discouragement.” Badgett referred to a recent Rhode Island case in which a lesbian couple, wed in Massachusetts, was not allowed to divorce in the Ocean State.

On the national level, a recent study conducted by the Congressional Budget Office found that if all 50 states and the federal government extended marriage rights to same-sex couples, gay weddings would generate almost $1 billion in revenue for the wedding industry each year. Another estimate, from Forbes magazine, put that figure at $16.8 billion over the next several years.

Meanwhile, here in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts, business owners can only wait for the boom to begin.

In Bristol, Julia Brigidi and her husband, Stephan, opened Bristol Workshops in Photography in 1981, a family-run studio that specializes in weddings. Their business is prominently listed on a Web site devoted to gay weddings (www.purpleunions.com) with the tag “gay friendly,” but Brigidi reported no rush of bookings. In fact, they have no gay weddings booked.

“I don’t know if we’ll get any extra business, but I certainly hope so,” she said. “We’re always very open and happy to photograph gay weddings. Our prices are the same for everybody. I don’t care if they’re red, green, white or from New York. I’m happy that people who deserve to be married can do it legally now.”