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Economist Lee Badgett Testifies Before New Hampshire Same-Sex Civil Marriage Commission: Marriage good for State's Budget and Economy 

September 19, 2005 

Today, Williams Project Visiting Scholar and Economist Lee Badgett testified before the New Hampshire Same-Sex Civil Marriage Commission that giving same-sex couples the right to marry would be good for the state budget and economy. Badgett estimated an annual net gain of $500,000 to the state budget if same-sex couples were allowed to marry. She testified that allowing same-sex marriage would strengthen the New Hampshire economy by stimulating a boom in tourism and attracting highly skilled workers to the State. 

Badgett's testimony reconfirms the findings of at least 10 other studies that have been done in the past decade. In addition to a series of studies done by the UCLA School of Law’s Williams Project and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies (IGLSS) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, similar analyses have been done by the Congressional Budget Office CBO, the Comptroller of New York, the Office of Legislative Research of the Connecticut General Assembly, and the Vermont Civil Union Review Commission. All of these studies have shown that recognizing the rights of same-sex couples will have a positive impact on federal or state budgets.

If it is among the first states to extend marriage to gay and lesbian couples, Badgett testified that New Hampshire would benefit from a boom in tourism.  When San Francisco allowed couples to marry for one month last year, over 350 couples flew in from 46 states and 8 countries. Badgett conservatively estimates that allowing same-sex couples to marry would generate almost $63 million in new tourist spending in New Hampshire during the first few years same-sex couples are permitted to marry. Forbes magazine has estimated that if same-sex marriage were legalized across the U.S., gay weddings would generate $16.8 billion in spending during the first several years. 

"The windfall from same-sex marriage tourism will only go to the first few states that extend marriage to gay and lesbian couples," said R. Bradley Sears, executive director of the Williams Project at the UCLA School of Law.  "Massachusetts has lost out on this opportunity by Governor Romney's refusal to allow marriages from non-resident couples. California could realize this economic gain if Governor Schwarzenegger signs the marriage bill when it is presented to him later this week. If not, states like New Hampshire may end up with a monopoly on this tourism windfall."