California’s Homosexual Pairs Can Marry Tomorrow.

At least for now.

More than half of CALIFORNIA’s estimated 100,000 same-sex couples are expected to apply for marriage licenses when the new homosexual marriage law goes into effect at 5:01 PM Monday, June 16 says a UCLA study. The study also estimates that as many as 68,000 out-of-state couples could travel to CALIFORNIA to take advantage of the new law and that California is the single state permitting that.

All of which, the UCLA study says, could generate as much as $684 million for the CALIFORNIA economy over the next three years, creating 2,200 jobs along the way. More than $70 million of that amount would go directly to state and local government coffers, with $64 million in additional tax revenue for the state and another $9 million in marriage-license fees for counties.

The bulk of the spending is expected to be on the usual wedding accoutrements, including cakes, decorations, clothing, jewelry, etc, but the benefits could also spread out to other industries as well. For instance, some Southern California wedding planners say that in the weeks right after the court decision, same-sex customers who were planning civil union ceremonies immediately switched to wedding plans instead.

The impact’s going to be in the millions, easily.” Marketing experts also cite the gay community’s comparatively high earning power. PlanetOut, a media and entertainment company that conducts surveys about gay and lesbian consumers, says gay consumers earn 20 percent more than their straight counterparts, on average, and spend about 10 percent more on civil union and other commitment ceremonies.

Others question this disparity citing biases particularly in Media and entertainment that have large homosexual populations. In Los Angeles it is referred to as the Lavendar Mafia, and at least one major entertainment company is cited as having its HR department run by a homosexual majority that discriminates against “straights” on hiring and promotions.

A Constitutional amendment is headed for the November 2008 California ballot that would again ban same sex marriages. The State’s voters passed a similar ban but the State Supreme Court action overrode the majority of the voters. Polling is California gives passage a narrow majority. Nationally according to a May 21-22 Gallup Poll 49% oppose marriage between homosexual pairs while about 38% approve with 13% unsure.

Regardless of whatever happens after Monday there will be hundreds of lawsuits and years of litigation.

uick