How the Gays Could Save Us

Via @NiteStar, via @gaysdotcom...

From the Huffington Post:

I've got a simple, cost-free proposal for stimulating the economy: legalize gay marriage.

Forget your politics. Shelve your bigotry. Just listen to the numbers....

The average American wedding costs $20,000. The number of gay couples living together without the benefit of marriage is estimated at 3 million. Using those numbers, same-sex marriages could pump an estimated additional $60 billion in revenue into our ailing economy. That doesn't even include money from the pre-wedding parties, honeymoons, or wedding registries. (Pottery Barn is going to love this post...) I suspect that gay marriage would be celebrated with the same outrageous excess as heterosexual unions. Not that everyone can afford a wedding like Ellen Degeneres and Portia DeRossi's elaborate celebration...but even some vows at city hall followed by a nice dinner with friends would help more than a $300 tax rebate. In fact, that $60 billion in revenue is all taxable!

I've always thought the economic argument was a bit of a fallacious one (a fellatio one?). I really don't believe that gay marriage will "save" the economy.

That said, I have several friends in the wedding industry who would really benefit from a huge boost to their own little economy. But, those who are going to have weddings, will probably already have them regardless of whether it's legal or not.

Sure, Massachusetts benefited (and Connecticut may be right now, too), but that's because of the novelty... not because gay marriage will save the economy.

Also on HuffPo: a debate between Harvey Fierstein and Ryan J. Davis on coopting the black civil rights movement for the purposes of gay marriage -- well, sort of -- it's more about slavery, which is a touchier subject, I understand.