Gay Marriage as an Economic Development Plan?

By Maggie Gallagher, Chairman, National Organization for Marriage

Published March 21st, 2011. Available online at http://nomblog.com/6419/

The headline in the March 16, 2011 Columbus, Indiana Republic said “Cummins: Gay Marriage
Ban Bad for Business.”1

Cummins, Inc. which makes engines and emissions control systems and mobile energy units for
the Army, and stuff like that, is headquartered in Columbus, Indiana. During state senate
hearings over the Indiana state marriage amendment Jill Cook, the vice president of human
resources, testified that the marriage amendment would harm Cummins’ business and make the
company reluctant to create jobs in Indiana.

“This resolution sends a powerful message that Indiana is not a place that welcomes
people of all backgrounds, and it jeopardizes our ability to be competitive in global
markets,” Ms. Cook testified.

I hope not under oath, or with her hand on a Bible, because that’s an amazing whopper we are
hearing more and more often.

In Rhode Island, newly-elected Gov. Lincoln Chafee actually touted gay marriage as a serious
and important part of his economic development plan for Rhode Island.

In his inaugural address he claimed passing gay marriage would do “more for economic growth
in our state than any economic-development loan.” He’s taken to running around Providence
brandishing a copy of the 2007 book “The Flight of the Creative Class” by Prof. Richard Florida,
to try to prove his point.

“In January,” notes Providence Journal columnist Edward Fitzpatrick2, “Chafee talked
about Florida’s book when he chaired the state Economic Development Corporation
Board for the first time. And during the February 6 edition of WJAR’s ‘10 News
Conference,’ Chafee cited the book in making the case for legalizing same-sex marriage.”

On “10 News Conference,” Jim Taricani noted that in his inaugural speech, Chafee said,
“Mark my words, those two actions will do more for economic growth in our state than
any economic development loan.”

1
http://www.therepublic.com/view/local_story/Cummins_Gay_marriage_ban_bad_f_1300328368/
2
http://www.projo.com/news/efitzpatrick/edward_fitzpatrick_13_02-13-11_87MD4Q3_v65.178a1bb.html
 Taricani asked, “Do you have a factual basis for saying that? Has that been the case in
other states?”

“Sure,” Chafee said. “Look at Silicon Valley. Look at Cambridge.” Taricani asked,
“What did that have to do with gay marriage or illegal immigration?”

[Particularly since they don’t have gay marriage in Silicon Valley.]

But undaunted Chafee persisted in digging his hole: “These are areas where innovation
prospers. And there is a book out by Richard Florida people are talking about, and he’s
making that exact point.”

Taricani asked, “What?”

“That you can look at economic growth where there is tolerance,” Chafee said.

Clearly a new meme has been launched. The people who launched it must be counting on the
idea that nobody will bother to point out how ludicrously unsupported by the facts it is.

Whether or not “tolerance” is associated with economic growth, gay marriage is clearly not.

The Bureau of Economic Analysis publishes yearly and trend data on economic growth,
including the year’s increase in personal income per capita.

Take a look at this chart: eight of the top ten states with the fasted growth in per capital personal
income from 1999-2009 have state marriage amendments. None have gay marriage.

1999-2009 average annual growth rate of PCPI3 (Per capita personal income)

State PCPI increase Marriage amendment?

Wyoming 5.9%
North Dakota 5.7% Yes
Louisiana 5.3% Yes
Montana 4.7% Yes
Oklahoma 4.6% Yes
South Dakota 4.4% Yes
Hawaii 4.4% Yes
West Virginia 4.3%
Arkansas 4.2% Yes

3
http://www.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/statebf.cfm
 Alaska 4.2% Yes

Or consider another potential measure of a state’s business climate: What do CEO’s think? Chief
Executive magazine annually surveys 543 CEOs to identify which states are the best and the
worst for job growth and business4. In 2009, the top five states were: Texas, North Carolina,
Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Four out of five have marriage amendments, and none have gay
marriage.

(The worst? California, New York, Michigan, New Jersey, and yes, Massachusetts.)

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also compiles a list of states that are the top "overall growth
performers" a measure which combines job growth rate since 2000, and since 2007, gross state
product (GSP), real GSP growth since 2000, GSO per job 2008, and growth in GSP per job. 5 The
top five states in overall growth performance (in descending order): North Dakota, Virginia,
South Dakota, Maryland and Wyoming. The top three all have state marriage amendments, none
have gay marriage (Indeed the Maryland legislature in a surprise move rejected a gay marriage
bill this month after a powerful public outpouring of objections, including from black churches).

Perhaps my favorite data point comes from this same recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey
(“Enterprising States”6) which includes a ranking for what it called “middle-class job growth.”
These are presumably the good jobs that the creative class seeks or fosters or whatever.

What are the top five states for growing middle-class jobs between 2002 and 2009? Utah,
Wyoming, Nevada, Hawaii and Texas.

True of these five states one—Wyoming—does not have a marriage amendment—yet. It almost
passed one, this year however. If it did, perhaps its middle class job growth will come plunging
to a halt, but somehow I doubt it.

The tiny number of liberal northeastern states that have embraced gay marriage tend to have high
per capita incomes, because they are much older, supporting fewer children, and much whiter,
and better educated than average. They are older in part because with so little job growth, young
adults with families move elsewhere,7 most likely to a southern state with a marriage amendment
that enjoys more robust economic growth.

Why would a representative from Cummins, Inc. make such a ludicrous claim that we would say
4
http://www.chiefexecutive.net/ME2/Audiences/dirmod.asp?
sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=D8BB
1C4F12AE46EF9B7647E09E3253A6&AudID=F242408EE36A4B18AABCEB1289960A07
5
http://ncf.uschamber.com/enterprising-states/
6
http://ncf.uschamber.com/wp-content/uploads/final-report-Enterprising-States-email.pdf
7
http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/07/young_adults_planning_to_leave.html
misleads the public, if it were not for the fact the public finds it ludicrous too? We do not know,
we say, shaking our heads in amazement.

But a few days ago Cummins’s CEO Tim Solso was appointed to Pres. Obama's Presidential
Management Advisory Board.

A bit of behind the scenes back-scratching?

We’ll never know for sure.

One thing we do know for sure: if gay marriage is a big part of your governor’s or your business
leaders’ idea of an economic development plan, your state is in trouble.