Unintended Consequences

One of the most controversial legal decisions to hit California in the past four decades was handed down a week or so ago, when the State Supreme Court ruled that the law against same-sex marriages violated the California State Constitution and struck it down. As a result, same-sex marriages were suddenly legal in California and thousands of people began making plans to either get married or else stage an all-out effort to amend the Constitution to make such laws possible in the future. I’m going to leave the social, legal, political, religious, civil rights, equality and historical aspects of this situation to those better qualified to comment on them; I write about business issues. Fortunately, this leaves us with over $370 million dollars in new business to talk about…

Various stereotypical images aside, it’s hardly surprising that ANY group of people who have been denied the right to legal marriages for centuries might be excited by the idea of finally gaining that right, or that in their excitement they might begin planning some incredibly elaborate weddings (complete with massively expensive cakes, costumes, meals, settings, floral arrangements and accessories). The scope of the upsurge in this business sector appears to have taken everyone by surprise, however…

A story in today’s Los Angeles Times estimates that the uptick in wedding-related services resulting from the legalization of same-sex marriages in California could reach as much as $370 million. If couples from other states in the Western United States start coming to California to get married, this figure could rise even farther. And if conservatives in other Western states succeed in blocking such unions in their own jurisdictions, this sort of migration is in no way far-fetched. Nor does this figure even consider the corresponding uptick in business for the Legal industry, as scores of attorneys stand to be hired to fight for or against the legalization of same-sex marriages and recognition of those unions by other States…

It’s almost certainly not something that the people debating the issue on legal terms had given much consideration; those who are for same-sex marriages are working on the basis of equality and civil rights, and those who oppose it are mostly bringing up religious, social and political factors. Certainly the political liberals who favor these unions were not intending to create vast commercial opportunities, nor were the political conservatives who oppose them intending to find themselves working against hundreds of millions of dollars in business revenue for the State. As so often happens, the Law of Unexpected Consequences has introduced a completely new set of questions into what was already a complicated situation…

Politically, of course, no conservative can expect to oppose $370 million worth of new business and survive, any more than he or she can expect to support same-sex marriages and survive. But by the same token, any liberal who attempts to cloak him- or herself in a mantle of defending the civil rights of the people entering into same-sex marriages can reasonably expect to be questioned about whether they are really in favor of liberty or merely in favor of increased business and tax revenues…

Personally, I have always taken the position that anything that you benefit from that does not unnecessarily harm another person is not evil, and that anything which creates jobs, stimulates the economy, allows people to earn a good living and maintain a good lifestyle, and does not unnecessarily harm anyone (including members of future generations who have to live on this same planet) is generally a good thing. But under the circumstances, I have to say that it’s probably just as well that I’m not a politician…