Fault Lines - S.F. can cash in on same-sex marriages

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POSTED May 19, 10:30 PM

I’m the last person on earth who would want to exploit any group’s situation — good, bad or indifferent — but I have to say that San Francisco will be missing a huge opportunity if it doesn’t cash in on its own current supply of (so far) unbridled happiness.

All that joy being felt in the pulsating corners of our community should not be left languishing, and while so many people in The City are feeling ecstatically gay, we need to take advantage. Buy gay, sell gay, forget the margins — and don’t stop until the wrongheaded Christian groups mow you down.

San Francisco is on the verge of a potential economic boom not seen since — well, since a very short period in 2004, when our very in-the-moment mayor had the umbrage to overlook the state of California’s laws and began issuing marriage licenses for same-sex couples. It was a tipsy, uproarious time at City Hall ... for about a month, until the long arm of the judiciary stepped in and stopped the music.

But since that very same court has reversed itself and said that gays and lesbians are free to legally enjoy the same benefits and general ups and downs as their heterosexual counterparts, there are financial harvests to be reaped. And don’t think that the thought hasn’t occurred to wedding planners, florists, hotel bookers, travel agencies and department heads across this fine city.

Or just ask Mayor Gavin Newsom. He said a light went off when one of the City Hall reporters covering the press conference on the gay marriage decision suddenly announced, “I’ve got to go to Tiffany’s and buy a ring!’’

“He wasn’t kidding,’’ Newsom said. “And it left me with the thought that maybe I should get into this business.’’

But San Francisco is already in the business — it just needs to address it in a bigger way. Indeed, the very first press release issued on the heels of the state Supreme Court’s ruling came from the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, which announced it was “celebrating’’ the decision while reminding visitors that The City is the No. 1 “gay friendly destination’’ in the United States and Canada.

The bureau’s release went on to note that it was continuing its popular LGBT tourism program in concert with a number of sponsors, including Southwest Airlines, the official airline of gay and lesbian San Francisco (who knew?).

I have been on a rampage lately about the desire of the mayor, the Board of Supervisors, and the Recreation and Park Department to raise fees on the backs of taxpaying citizens to cover our officials’ free-spending, budget-busting ways. It’s patently ridiculous and mean-spirited to raise parking fines and meter rates for our overly-taxed residents — especially when there are fees people would happily pay even if they were bumped up a notch.

Unlike Massachusetts — the only other state in which same-sex marriage is legal — California will allow out-of-state couples to wed here. San Francisco is obviously the place where most people want to tie the knot — do you think they would care if they were charged a nonresidence fee for the honor? And do you think anyone would notice if San Francisco quietly raised its marriage-license fee from $89 to $100 or increased the price of recording a marriage certificate?

I would propose that, instead of moving forward with the distasteful idea of placing parking meters in Golden Gate Park to grab more revenue, The City raise rental fees at popular municipal wedding facilities. Consider it something of a happy tax — and anyone who was around during that brief period in 2004 when the gay-marriage floodgates briefly opened knows it was a time considered priceless by those joyous participants.

You’d have to admit that if official San Francisco doesn’t see the merits of the potential financial windfall from an industry that California’s courts have just created, then its leaders will have sadly missed the boat once again. It’s worth recalling that the last time San Francisco got into the gay-marriage business, it ended up having to refund all the money it received from all those joyous couples whose unions were legally terminated by the courts when they intervened. Some of the money went back into the same-sex legal defense fund that helped drive the court’s decision last week.

Chances are, more money will be needed again. San Francisco needs to be at the front of the funding curve.