A Reno, Nevada wedding chapel owner is
promoting gay marriage as a means to save the state's declining
wedding industry.
George Flint, who owns the Chapel of
the Bells, told Fox
Reno that the state's ban on gay nuptials was hurting business.
“If we had that as a tourist package,
of course it would be good for the state, but a lot of people don't
think past their moral or religious noses,” he said.
Guy Rocha, a former Nevada state
Archivist, agreed, telling the Reno Gazette-Journal that
marriage equality would revive the struggling industry.
“It doesn't save Nevada from its
economic distress, but it helps, and helps with the wedding
industry,” he said.
Referring to the growing number of
states which have legalized such unions, Rocha added: “That
opportunity is fairly rapidly diminishing. If we don't make a move
in this decade, it's going to pass us by.”
According to Fox Reno, 9,283 marriage
licenses last year were issued in Washoe County, which includes Reno.
At its peak, the county issued 36,794 in 1978.