Legalizing Gay Marriage Could Boost Virginia's Economy

Our DC Marriage Certificate - Virginia is across the Potomac in the background

Not only does Virginia's anti-gay animus motivated Marshall-Newman Amendment cause talented gays and liberal Millennials to leave Virginia, but it also is a drain on Virginia's economy.  Or at least that is the conclusion of a think tank that has evaluated the economic cost of Virginia's anti-gay bigotry. Having married in Washington, D.C., myself I can attest to the fact that the DC economy benefited from Virginia's bigotry in the form of expenditures made in Washington rather than here in Virginia.  Given the number of friends getting married outside of Virginia, the dollar amount truly adds up.  Here are highlights from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

A report by a think tank at UCLA says legalizing gay marriages in Virginia could generate up to $60 million in spending in three years.

The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that about 7,000 same-sex couples may choose to get married in Virginia within three years of a change in law.

The report says the increased spending on wedding arrangements and by tourists would likely generate up to $3.2 million in state and local tax revenue.

The Republic provides additional details:

The report also estimates that Virginia has already likely lost tens of millions of dollars in spending and more than $1 million in tax revenue as same-sex couples decided to marry in Washington, D.C. and other states where it's been legalized.

"This report clearly shows that allowing lesbian and gay couples to marry in Virginia is not only the right thing to do, but would also have a positive impact on our economy," James Parrish, executive director of Equality Virginia, said in a statement Tuesday.

"The ban is not only hurting loving lesbian and gay couples in Virginia - it is also hurting our economy. This report shows that all Virginians would benefit from marriage equality."

The report estimates that same-sex couples in Virginia would spend about $7,000 per wedding, which is significantly less than the $28,000 spent on the typical wedding in Virginia. The report says the estimated price tag is lower, in part, because same-sex couples receive less support from their parents. Based on Massachusetts' experience, the report estimates that each same-sex wedding would include 16 out-of-state guests.

The report says the increased spending on wedding arrangements and tourism would create between 459 and 595 jobs within three years.

Virginia is missing out on economic benefit and losing contributing members of society all so that hate filled bigots like Del. Bob Marshall and Victoria Cobb - and black pastors who act like white Christofascists trained circus dogs - can feel superior and avoid facing the fact that their ignorance embracing form of Christianity is dying - largely because of them.

Will the GOP Blink First on Sequestration Cuts?

Washington politics nowadays is best summed up as a constant game of blackmail where the GOP controlled House - the GOP still has control only because of gerrymandered districts - threatens to wreak harm on the rest of the nation unless its demands are met.  And the game is less reminiscent of the blackmail stunts of a petulant child than those of a dull witted bully.  When one criticizes this bad behavior, too many Republicans stick their heads in the sand and lash out at their critics rather than open their eyes to what the GOP has become.  One former GOP compatriot of mine regular calls me "angry" rather than open her eyes.  My response to her is that she needs to stop drinking the Christofascist/Tea Party Kool-Aid.  An article in New York Magazine looks at whether or not Obama will call the GOP's bluff on the so-called sequestration cuts (the fiscal cliff deal merely pushed back the start date for these across the board cuts) and allow them to kick in and gore many GOP sacred cows, including military spending.  Here are some article excerpts:

As the next round of the fiscal showdown takes shape, John Boehner has made what is either a very big move or a very big bluff. In an interview with Wall Street Journal editorial writer Stephen Moore, the House Speaker asserted that his side is perfectly willing to let the automatic budget cuts set up in the summer of 2011 to take effect

When Boehner and Obama stalemated over the budget in 2011, they agreed to institute a trigger, starting in 2013, to create automatic deficit reduction. Since Republicans would never allow the trigger to include higher revenue, Obama insisted that the cuts exempt most anti-poverty programs and fall heavily on defense.

Obama assumed that the prospect of huge cuts to the military would frighten at least some Republicans. The design of the automatic cuts, or “sequestration,” was to pit elements of the Republican coalition against each other — specifically, to force pro-military Republicans to break from anti-tax absolutists. And indeed, the party’s defense hawks have loudly decried the cuts and called for replacing them with a “balanced solution” — which means a mix of higher tax revenue and lower spending on retirement programs, which is also Obama’s position.

Boehner doesn’t want that. He wants to replace the automatic cuts with cuts to retirement programs and zero new revenue. Now, Obama almost surely would never accept that. So the leverage game here centers on which party finds the automatic cuts more painful.

Boehner is asserting that Republicans don’t actually care that much about cutting defense — that replacing the sequester is something Democrats want. Just because Boehner says this doesn’t make it true. He may be holding his defense hawks in line publicly, but the question is whether he can keep them in line as the negotiations proceed and the prospect of implementing the cuts grows more real.

Since Virginia receives the most federal spending of any state, it will be especially hard hit if sequestration becomes a reality.   Virginia congressional Republicans will be under extreme pressure to avoid this consequence.  Sequestration would also kick in during a year that the Virginia House of Delegates is up for re-election and could cause strong anti-GOP feeling in a gubernatorial election year as well.