California Benefits from Legalizing Gay Marriage

Published in Chinanews.com
(China) on 2008-06-17
by Kun Cao (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Weihao Zhang. Edited by .
June 16th, 2008 has to become a historic day for the State of California. The local Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal in California last month, and couples of the same sex are able to register for legal marriage by recognition from the California government at 17:01 on June 16th.

Before, in the United States, only Massachusetts legally allowed gay marriage, and it only referred to its state residents. However, California is welcoming gay partners from all over the States to come and register. Thousands of homosexual couples are expected to swarm into California and get married. At the same time, an influx of large number of business opportunities is also expected to bring a strong local economic boost.

According to "Ming Pao Daily News" , 66-year-old Taylor and her 54-year-old lesbian lover Olsen have been fighting for gay marriage rights over the years. Because of their incessant appeal, the California Supreme Court ultimately overthrew the injunction on same-sex marriage made by state government. This couple is planning to get married at 17:01 on the 16th which will make them the first official same-sex “husband and wife” in Los Angeles county.

“We are getting married outside the court,” Taylor said, “because that is where we’ve been through many years of struggle. It will be wonderful to get married here and announce ‘our victory’." In Californian gay resort West Hollywood, the hotels said that the occupancy rate had been rising crazily after the court ruled gay marriage legal last month. "Our rooms on the 17th were almost fully booked. So will be the coming week. The occupancy rate never reached this high."

A survey report in California pointed out that about 51,000 to 102,000 homosexual couples living in this state will be married in the next three years. And about 68,000 gay couple from other states will seek for legal marriage here in the next three years. They will bring economic benefits of more than 600 million dollars. Economic analyst Kaiser also said that gay marriage could help revive the tourism recession in California.

In Kaiser’s opinion, mainstream homosexuals represent the popular consumers who are extremely welcomed by the merchants - both partners have income and without any burden of raising kids.

There are still some of the more conservative rural areas in California that did not agree on gay marriage, but the travel agencies in big cities such as Los Angeles and San Francisco have been actively summoning gays and lesbians. Los Angeles Tourism Bureau has put these words on their official web site: "With its comprehensive history and all kinds of beautiful sights, gay-friendly city Los Angeles will soon become an ideal place where gay couples would prefer to get married."

Netherlands became the world's first country to accept same-sex marriage by law in 2001. Now, gay marriage has been legalized in countries including Belgium, Canada, Spain and Norway.

While other countries have not yet allowed gay marriage, some have endowed them with same rights and status which normal couples enjoy, such as tax relief, the inheritance rights and so on.


16日是美国加州一个历史性时刻,当地最高法院上月裁定同性婚姻在加州合法,同性伴侣由当地时间16日下午5点01分起,可登记成为加州政府认可的夫妻。以往美国只有麻省容许同性婚姻,但只限本州岛居民,加州则欢迎州外同志伴侣前来注册。预计成千上万同性恋伴侣将涌到加州结婚,大量商机亦同时涌入加州,有望为当地经济注下强心针。

据美国《明报》报道,66岁的泰勒跟54岁同志情人奥尔森,多年来一直争取同性婚姻权利,正是他们的上诉,最终促成加州最高法院推翻州政府的同性婚姻禁令。两人已准备在16日下午5点01分结婚,成为洛杉矶县区首对正式同志“夫妻”。泰勒说﹕“我们准备在法院外结婚,因为这是我们多年来斗争的地方,在这儿结婚宣布‘我们胜利’,无疑是美妙的事。”在加州同志胜地西好莱坞,有酒店表示,在最高法院上月裁定同性婚姻合法后,入住率不断攀升,“我们17日的房间差不多已经订满,未来一周也差不多。以往我们的入住率不会这样高。”

加州一项调查报告指出,约有5.1万至10.2万对居于加州的同性恋伴侣将在未来3年内结婚,约6.8万名其它州的伴侣亦会在3年内来加州结婚,这些同性恋者将为加州带来逾6亿美元经济收益。经济分析师凯泽也说,同性恋婚姻可重振衰退中的加州旅游业。凯泽称,主流同性恋者代表了很受商家欢迎的消费者层——伴侣双方均有收入、又没有孩子包袱的小家庭。

虽然加州仍有一些较保守的乡镇地区,对同性恋婚姻不以为然,但洛杉矶及旧金山等大城市的旅游机构,都已积极向同性恋者招手。洛杉矶旅游局便在官方网站写道﹕“拥有包容的历史,又有各式景点,同性恋友好城市洛杉矶,很快就会成为同性恋者选择结婚的理想地点。”

荷兰在2001年成为全球首个接纳同性婚姻合法的国家,现时包括比利时、加拿大、西班牙、挪威等都已容许同性结婚。

其它部分国家虽未容许同性恋婚姻,但同样赋予同性伴侣在法律上能享有和异性伴侣同等法律地位,如税务减免及遗产权等。
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