Same-Sex Marriage Has Been Good for Business
I was in Target the other day picking up a Valentine’s Day card for my wife. I grabbed a card and looked out the outside which read “I found the perfect woman.” I opened it expecting it to read “and you found the perfect man”, but it didn’t. When I opened it up it said, “And so did you.”
I was a little confused for a second until I realized it was a card for a same-sex couple. I took a second look at the card section and there were a dozen or so different cards for same-sex couples. I put the card back, picked one for my wife and as I walked to the counter I had to marvel at two things. First, how far and fast this issue has changed over the last decade. Secondly, how helpful this must be for Target since you have same-sex married couples buying stuff for each other.
In fact, a recent study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law shows from 2015-16, more than 123,000 same-sex couples got married adding more than $1.58 billion to the economy. Some other key findings from the report included…
- Total spending on the 123,000 marriages generated an estimated $1.58 billion, including $1.35 billion in direct wedding spending by the couples and $228 million in spending by out-of-state guests.
- This economic boost has added an estimated $102 million to state and local coffers in the 46 states that collect state and local sales taxes.
- This spending could support an estimated 18,900 jobs for one full year.
Not bad. Not to mention the emotional and psychological benefits that come from healthy relationships which you can’t put a price on.
So on this Valentine’s Day, be grateful for the one’s you love and the one’s that other people love, because instead of costing you money, it looks like just the opposite.
