Last week’s historic Supreme Court rulings on same-sex marriage resulted in a flurry of media appearances by CPPA Director M.V. Lee Badgett, an internationally recognized expert on LGBT economic issues.
In extended television and radio interviews, as well as shorter print segments, Badgett primarily has spoken on two topics:
- The boost that legalizing same-sex marriage can provide to local businesses and state economies; and
- The profound financial impact that the Supreme Court decisions could have on legally married same-sex couples.
When the Supreme Court justices stayed the lower court’s decision on California’s Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage, they essentially re-opened the door to same-sex couples to marry in that state. On average, each couple marrying in the United States spends more than $25,000 on their wedding. And with about 37,000 same-sex couples poised to tie the knot in California over the next three years, Badgett estimates, that state is likely to experience a significant economic booster thanks to the high court’s ruling.
While the weddings themselves will provide an economic boon to states and wedding-related businesses, legally married same-sex couples will face more of a mixed bag when it comes to how their newly federally recognized unions will affect their household finances, says Badgett. For example, some couples will pay more to the IRS when filing taxes jointly than they would if they filed separately. Overall, though, when considering a lifetime of taxes, health insurance premiums and retirement payments, the overturning of the federal Defense of Marriage Act should result in tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings for married same-sex couples.
Badgett was an expert witness during the 2010 Proposition 8 trial in California and is research director at the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy. Her most recent book, When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same-Sex Marriage, addresses the core issues in marriage debates in European countries and the U.S.
She has been interviewed about the Supreme Court decisions on The Real News Network, Bloomberg News and Southern California Public Radio; she has been quoted in articles about the economic impacts of the Supreme Court rulings in Politico, the Montreal Gazette, Today.com, Bankrate.com and CNBC.