Tuesday evening at 5 p.m., gay marriage officially became possible in California , and hundreds of couples took advantage. For most people, the marriage debate is about morality or law, notions of equality or religious belief. Advertisement

But a recent study by a UCLA law professor (see it here puts a moneyed spin on the gay marriage debate. Professor Brad Sears says legal gay marriage will boost California state and local revenues by $63.8 million, create 2,100 new jobs for the state and boost state tourism (from out-of-state couples who can’t marry at home) by $683 million.

By any measure, that’s real money.

The report (which Sears says is based on conservative estimates) projects that some 51,000 gay California couples will marry and 67,000 couples will travel to California from other states to marry over the next three years.

Here in Michigan, can you imagine getting that kind of boost to our flagging economy?

So is this the right way to think of the gay marriage issue? As primarily economic, rather than moral?