The Wire

As the debate over legalizing same-sex marriage gathers steam, figures released this week found that Australia’s ban is potentially costing the economy over $700 million. Australian Marriage Equality, an organisation campaigning for gay and lesbian rights, calculated that the refusal to acknowledge gay marriage as legal, is pushing same-sex couples to wed overseas. With the average wedding costing $28,000 the group says the law is both unfair and bad for nations economy.