$16.8 Billion Gay Weddings

[Cannikin]

(New York City) George W. Bush and conservative religious groups may be pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage but a new study shows that gay weddings are good for business.

Forbes Magazine says legalized same-sex marriage would be "a windfall for the wedding industry." The business journal has estimated that if the laws were changed, gay couples currently living together would collectively spend $16.8 billion to get hitched.

"Of course, they wouldn't all get married right away, so it might be several years before the industry reaped the entire windfall," Forbes reports. "But it seems reasonable to presume that if same-sex marriage were to be legalized, a large percentage of gay couples immediately would begin making plans to march down the aisle together."

The entire US wedding industry is worth about $70 billion-per-year, accounting for caterers, jewelers, travel agents and a host of other businesses.

The average wedding in America today costs about $22,000.

Full story:
http://www.365gay.com/newscon04/04/040904wedCash.htm

[Luvpurp]

1. I know this is dorky

but ER was powerful last night. Normally I hate Carrie, but the scenes with her as the "grieving widow" were very poignant. I really though this episode did a lot to show that gays and lsebians are just like everyone else with a great capacity to love and care.

Here in Minnesota we have a fred Barnes type legislator named Michelle Bachman who is tryong to constitutionally abn gay marriage. I am hoping some Minnesotans were enlightened by this episode and will send Bigot Bachman back under the rock form which she crawled.

[DarkPhenyx]

2. OK, straight or homosexual, I don't care.

NO wedding is worth $22,000.

[Florida_Geek]

3. The sad part is the families normally pay for it.

But that does bring up an interesting question. Mmmm, the Brides family pays for X.... Mmmm....

[DarkPhenyx]

4. It's begining to sound like a Will and Grace episode.

I know that my roomate and her fiance are paying for most of their wedding. My friends in VA paid for all of theirs. More and more the "older" couples are doing this.