Gay rights good for economy

Equality promotes a healthy economy, says Houston mayor Annise Parker. GayPolitics.com reports that while visiting Shanghai on Monday as part of her international tour in support of Houston’s international businesses, the Texas Mayor lauded the Chinese city for its open-mindedness.

“To boost development, a city needs to be open to a full range of people, especially the innovative ones who break barriers, like people of the gay community,” Parker said. It’s a statement that Kansas Citians should keep in mind as we begin to look past the recession.

Meanwhile in Missouri’s gay-friendly northern neighbor Iowa, at a National Organization for Marriage rally in Des Moines on Sunday, activist Tamara Scott disagrees. “It costs you, the taxpayer, as high as $280 billion a year for fragmented families, according to the Family Research Council. If we would correct the breakdown of the family by 1 percent, we could save the taxpayer $3 billion a year.”

That’s if you buy into the idea that gay marriage destroys families instead of creating more, for one. But according to The Iowa Independent reporter Laura Millsaps, her numbers are off. Not only is the FRC criticized for “questionable methodology and politicized conclusions,” but a 2008 study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimated that gay weddings, related tourism, and tax revenue would bring in at least an additional $165 million to the state of Iowa through 2011.