New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg intends to take advantage of gays' good taste and potentially deep pockets, with a massive multi-channel, global ad campaign to draw queer couples to the nation's largest city as the ultimate wedding destination.
“NYC I Do” will add millions of dollars to the city’s $31 billion tourism industry, the city marketing office says.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo's historic marriage equality bill, signed into law June 24, becomes legal July 24. New York becomes the sixth and most populous state to legalize same-sex marriage, more than doubling the number of Americans living in such states to 35 million.
Both Cuomo and Bloomberg took part in Sunday's 41st annual Gay Pride March in NYC, which drew 2 million spectators and 6,000 participants.
"Stay in a hotel. Buy flowers, clothes, meals or whatever. It's good for the economy," Bloomberg said. "We will be ready. Will there be lines the first day? Yes. Get ready for it. Get used to it."
You don't have to be a New York resident to get married in the state. The benefit to Massachusetts’ economy was worth more than $100 million over five years after legalizing same-sex marriage, according to a study.
A May report predicted that more than 21,000 gay and lesbian couples living in New York would get married in the first three years of marriage equality, while 3,300 couples from surrounding states without such laws would marry in New York, and 42,000 other out-of-state gay couples would come here for a “destination wedding.”
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