Oh sure, marriage equality is the right thing to do because the gays deserve the same rights and privileges as everybody else, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But along with the civic pride of being the first state in the nation to approve same-sex marriage at the polls, Referendum 74 could also bring Washingtonians a shit ton of money!
According to an economic impact study conducted by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, our state's wedding and tourism industries could generate an additional $88 million in business revenue (and $8 million in state and local taxes for our broke-ass state) in the first three years of marriage equality alone. That's assuming only half of the state's 19,000 same-sex couples choose to marry, a rate similar to what was seen in Massachusetts.
