Gay Marriage Nets $259 Million for NYC in a Year

By Paul Bisceglio   Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christie Quinn [announced](http://www.mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=B9BB6B4E-C29C-7CA2-F1D74B44ADE35CC4) on Tuesday that a study by the City Clerk's office  and NYC & Company, the city's tourism agency, estimated that same sex-marriages have contributed $259 million to the city's economy since New York passed the Marriage Equality Act one year ago on July 24. "Marriage equality has made our City more open, inclusive and free ? and it has also helped to create jobs and support our economy," Bloomberg said in the statement. "New York has always been a great place to get married and since the passage of the Marriage Equality Act, we're welcoming more and more couples, their families and friends from around the country and the world." According to the survey, over 201,000 same-sex wedding guests visited from outside the city. They booked over 235,000 hotel rooms at an average rate of $275 a day, as well as paid for dining, celebrations, gifts and various other wedding-related purchases. Add this income to at least 8,200 gay-marriage licenses that were purchased in the last year (couples are not required to disclose their sexes) and $16 million in tax revenue from the marriages, and you start to get a sense of the same-sex wedding business's size. "Thirteen months ago our legislators did the right thing and voted to make same-sex marriage a reality, ensuring that New York State was among the leaders in equality," said City Comptroller John Liu in a statement. "Today's announcement is simply the icing on the wedding cake." In addition to New York, same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia. Massachusetts led the charge in 2004, and found similar economic growth: gay marriage added an [estimated $111 million](http://money.cnn.com/2012/05/10/pf/gay-marriage/index.htm?iid=EL) to the state's economy in five years.