New England Rakes It In
The Advocate
By Amita Parashar
June 04, 2009

Now that five states in New England have come down on the side of marriage equality, experts predict the region will increasingly attract same-sex couples -- and revenue.

"The sole, only reason why we moved was because it was now legal for us to get married here," new Connecticut resident John Visser told Reuters. "No other reason whatsoever other than marriage equality. We were perfectly happy in North Carolina." Visser and his partner, Nick Keffer, moved to Connecticut from North Carolina and plan to wed later this month.

This year Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine joined Massachusetts in allowing same-sex marriages. Couples in Vermont and Maine can begin to marry in September, New Hampshire couples in January. Outside the region, Iowa began licensing same-sex unions in April, and California briefly had marriage equality last year, but voter-approved Proposition 8 stripped couples of the right in November.

A study released by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, in May reported that same-sex couples in the "creative class" (including younger and highly educated people) were 2.5 times more likely to move to Massachusetts after marriage equality was attained.

The institute also estimated that the wedding-related spending of over 12,000 same-sex couples injected more than $100 million into the Massachusetts economy since 2004. The same institute, in a separate study, predicted a $7.9 million per year net gain in Maine tax revenues due to same-sex marriage.