Study Predicts Homosexual Influx to Maine By Maine Family Policy Council Staff Mar 13, 2009 - 4:25:55 PM

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California Think Tank States Over 15,000 Out-of-State Homosexuals to Descend on Maine to Marry

The Williams Institute recently published a 17-page study entitled "The Economic Impact of Extending Marriage to Same-Sex Couples in Maine" (found online at www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/pdf/MEecon.pdf).  

State Senator Dennis Damon (Democrat - Hancock County) has cited the study recently in the media as a reason for the Maine Legislature to pass the same-sex marriage bill (entitled "An Act to End Discrimination in Civil Marriage and Affirm Religious Freedom") that Damon has sponsored this session.

The study estimates there are 4,644 homosexual couples currently living in Maine, and that only half of these couples would pursue a same-sex marriage.  Additionally, the study states: "approximately 15,657 same-sex couples from other states will come to Maine to marry. These couples will primarily come from New York, where they are likely to have their marriages recognized, and from states in the immediate Northeast region."    

An earlier Census Study (www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/publications/MaineCensusSnapshot.pdf) by the same organization estimated that there were only 4,847 homosexual couples living in Maine in 2005 out of 52,801 homosexuals who were living in Maine that same year.

The recent economic study was crafted by Christopher Ramos, a research assistant with the Williams Institute, who "studies social inequality through a lens of race, class, gender, and sexual orientation" according to the report, M.V. Lee Badgett, the Research Director at the Williams Institute, who "studies family policy and employment discrimination related to sexual orientation" according to the report, and Brad Sears, the Executive Director of the Williams Institute, who "teaches sexual orientation and disability law courses" at UCLA and "focuses on HIV discrimination by health care providers," according to the report.

The Williams Institute can be contacted at the University of California - Los Angeles School of Law, Box 951476, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1476, (310) 267-4382, williamsinstitute@law.ucla.edu, www.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute.

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