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 Gay Marriage Attracting Skilled Workers To
Mass.
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: March 3, 2008 - 5:00 pm ET
(Boston, Massachusetts) Massachusetts is reaping
huge financial gains as a result of same-sex marriage.
The Boston Business Journal reports that the only
state in the country to allow gays to marry is become " a powerful lure for same-sex couples who want to live in a place
where they can get married, gain legal rights and have access to spousal health
benefits."
For decades the state has seen a brain drain
despite having some of the most prestigious universities in the nation.
From 2003 to 2005, the population actually fell to 6,429,137 from 6,438,510, according to
estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau obtained by the publican.
"Since the marriage law passed, we see a lot more
(gay) professionals moving into the Boston area," Henry Hoey, a member of the Greater Boston Business Council, a chamber of commerce for gay
professionals told the Journal.
Hoey said that the organization's membership has increased 5 percent to 1,100
members since last year. "The effects of this law are starting to take
hold."
Recruitment agencies and other business groups
also say they have seen an influx of same-sex couples - mostly professionals.
Attorney Jeffrey Webb and his partner Mark
Schuster moved from Los Angeles to Massachusetts in December order to marry.
"That was something that was really important to
us," Webb told the Journal.
He is now a partner and practices trial law with
a well known Boston-area firm. Schuster is now the chief of general pediatrics and vice chair for health policy
research at Children's Hospital Boston.
In 2003 the Supreme Judicial Court, the highest
court in Massachusetts, struck down laws banning same-sex marriage and in 2004
the first gay couples began to wed. Since then more than 10,000 gay and
lesbian couples have married in the state.
©365Gay.com 2008
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