Gay and lesbian honeymoons set to boom
In the wake of New York becoming the largest and latest US state to legalize gay marriage, new research reveals how many gay and lesbian Americans want to get married - and the very large potential revenue windfall for business likely to result, if marriage equality becomes available nationwide.
Findings released today suggest new gay matrimonial spending would likely exceed USD$1 billion during just the first year of such a theoretical nationwide change.
The research, part of LGBT2020 - the world's largest global research study on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people - asked US respondents how likely they were to marry, if this option becomes available to them in the future.
The data was sampled between July 2010 and January 2011, across several hundred lesbian, gay and LGBT digital media websites, hosted by Gay Ad Network - America's largest online collected gay media platform. Sample size was 6,712 responses - obtained from across all 50 States of the USA, and the District of Columbia.
Almost seven in ten respondents (68.77%) said they hope to get married, and a further one in twelve (8.15%) said they had already undertaken some marriage, or marriage-like, ceremony with a partner.
15% of US respondents say they would never marry even were it to become available them.
The LGBT2020 research is part of a ten year study analyzing LGBT people's lives worldwide. The study is undertaken by Out Now, a global gay market research specialist, in partnership with Gay Ad Network in the US and Canada.
In 2008, Out Now research revealed that the spending impact of lesbian and gay marriages during the first full year of Civil Partnerships in the United Kingdom (2006) delivered a GBP£130 million (USD$209 million) boost to the UK economy.
According to Ian Johnson, Out Now's CEO, a similar pattern in the US market would yield significant economic benefits. "When we ask people if they want to marry in the future, this is an aspirational hope," says Johnson. "But by analyzing real-world UK data we have been able to estimate the likely economic impacts that nationwide gay marriage would have on the US economy during its first year, and that figure is just over one billion dollars (USD$1.042 billion)," Johnson says. "That is all-new consumer spending, and it would run throughout the US economy on wedding items such as rings, venue hire, catering, and of course the biggest ticket item - gay honeymoons."
Mark Elderkin, CEO of Gay Ad Network, the largest gay media network in North America, said: "This data helps broaden the traditional definition of gay and lesbian consumers, and provides insights into business opportunities that will be created as a result of legalizing gay marriage."
Out Now's Senior US Consultant, Mike Wilke, based in New York City, says that the economic impact of same-sex weddings looks set to increase. "The recent decision in New York makes this now look like a growing US trend, and this new economic activity is only going to increase as more of America adopts marriage equality - and what's good for the US economy benefits all Americans," says Wilke.
More information is available at: LGBT2020.com
DATA SOURCE - Out Now Global LGBT2020 Study - OutNowConsulting.com