The institution of marriage may not only have survived this year’s full-on assault by gay rights advocates in New York, but appears to actually be thriving.
After nearly six months of legal same-sex weddings, New York City saw a 14 percent increase in marriage licenses issued, according to The Wall Street Journal. While the state does not track the gender of licensees, the New York City Clerk’s office said they attribute most of the increase to same-sex couples, since the total number of marriages in the city has remained relatively flat for years.
That’s not bad news for the city, since the average cost of a Manhattan wedding was over $70,000 in 2010. In the last six months, there were over 4,000 more weddings in the city than in the same period last year. Four state senators issued a report this year estimating that same-sex marriages could bring over $300 billion to the state over the next three years.
The increase and potential revenue are attributed to both New York residents as well as visitors from states with less-than-egalitarian marriage laws.
“Gay people come to New York because it’s a place of tolerance,” Harvey Molotch, a professor of sociology at New York University told The Wall Street Journal. “It’s already a place to come for vacation, and that lends itself to getting married, too. You can stay there, have a good time, and do lots of things. It’s like that ‘YMCA’ song.”
