A study done at the UCLA law school says Missouri could get an economic boost if it lets some people get married.
UCLA’s Williams Institute figures legalizing same sex marriage in Missouri would add more than $36-million to the state’s economy in the next three years. And 311-934 new jobs would be created.
The Institute’s Chief Counsel, Christy Malloy, says the figures are based on anticipated expenditures if half of Missouri’s 10,557 same-sex couples get married. Some couples already have gone to Iowa, where the marriages are recognized. But “a lot of people prefer to stay in their own state,” she says…
She also says Missouri could become a marriage magnet for same sex couples from the other six neighboring states where same sex marriage is not legal.
Seventy percent of Missouri voters approved a constitutional ban on same sex marriage ten years ago this year. But two lawsuits challenging the ban have been filed in Kansas City and a third lawsuit in St. Louis also could produce a court ruling. In addition, the U-S Supreme Court might rule next year.
The Executive Director of the LGBT advocacy organization PROMO, A. J. Bockelman, has said in an email to supporters that, “It is entirely possible–indeed it’s quite probable–that within the next year, we could see both nondiscrimination and marriage won on behalf of the LGBT community in Missouri.”
The issue also is expected to be before the United States Supreme Court soon through a case from Utah..
