US: Same-sex weddings have boosted economies by $3.8 billion since gay marriage was legalized five years ago this month, a new study says

By Scottie Andrew

Same-sex weddings have been a boon for the wedding industry since gay marriage was legalized in 2015 -- and in the years since, it's boosted state and local economies by $3.8 billion, a new study estimates.

The same-sex wedding industry also supported at least 45,000 jobs and generated more than $244.1 million in state and local sales tax since June 2015, according to the report from the UCLA School of Law's Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy.

More than half of all wedded same-sex couples in the United States got married after the Supreme Court made the landmark decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, which guaranteed same-sex couples the same rights to marry as heterosexual couples. Before it was legalized, 37 states allowed same-sex marriages, but their unions weren't recognized by federal law.

Now, the researchers estimate, there are 513,000 married same-sex couples in the United States, and 293,000 of them got married after June 2015. Read more via CNN