As a federal court prepares to hear arguments in a challenge to Oregon’s ban on same-sex marriage, a new report finds that marriage equality would add $47 million to the state’s economy and generate over 450 new jobs over three years.
Researchers at the Williams Institute, an independent think tank at UCLA’s School of Law, estimates that — based on 2010 U.S. Census data — 50 percent of the state’s 11,773 same-sex couples, would marry in the first three years in which same-sex marriage is legal, and that couples would on average spend $6,399 per wedding.
The economic impact is relatively modest given the size of the state’s overall economy, but the study, based on the data from states that have already legalized same-sex marriage, gives a sense of how many same-sex couples would choose to marry if they could do so.
Oral arguments in two lawsuits challenging Oregon’s same-sex marriage ban, are scheduled for Wednesday at U.S. District Court in Eugene.
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