Letter

Governor Jonathan S. Corzine,

The issue of gay marriage has long since been an issue in the state of New Jersey that needs addressing and support. Therefore, this letter is in response to the new legislation in question about gay marriage. The state of New Jersey can benefit an incredible amount if New Jersey legislators pass laws naming full marriage rights for gays. The state would benefit economically due to many factors such as attracting more business to the already lucrative wedding industry, producing more jobs, and depositing money back into the economy.

In 2004, San Francisco allowed a one-month window for same-sex couples to be wed. During this month it was reported that people visiting for same-sex weddings spent substantial amounts of money on wedding-related goods and services. According to Census 2000, New Jersey has 16,604 resident same-sex couples. It is assumed that 50% will marry if given the option, based on Massachusetts' experience with marriages of same-sex couples. These 8,300 in-state couples are predicted to spend 25% of the average wedding cost and the total for all 8,300 couples would come to about $24.5 million in additional wedding spending per year by in-state couples alone and $307.5 million with out-of-state included. This makes same-sex marriage a multi-million dollar industry.

As stated previously, if same-sex marriage became legalized there would be a large increase of people becoming married causing demand in the wedding industry. This shift in the demand curve for wedding related items, such as ceremonies, catering, cakes, parties, transportation, flowers, photographers, hotel accommodations, clothing, and gifts would make it easy for new firms to enter the industry in turn creating many jobs.

The wedding industry is not the only industry that would see benefits from same-sex marriage. The states budget would increase due to