Entrepreneurship at work

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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The issue of same-sex marriage continues to spark political controversy here in Iowa and some other states.

But that's not preventing some Corridor businesses from catering to new market opportunities springing up after the Iowa Supreme Court's April 2009 ruling that struck down a state law defining marriage as being only between a man and a woman.

It's the American way.

By marketing and tailoring services to same-sex couples looking to tie the knot, local business owners are acting in the tradition of American entrepreneurship and the free market.

And in doing so, they're likely adding momentum to a larger culture of acceptance, or at least tolerance, of civil same-sex marriage.

No doubt, the risk of alienating some customers has made some local business owners reluctant to go after this relatively new market. Some business owners may feel they must walk a fine line in advertising their receptiveness to meeting the needs of same-sex couples without alienating those who support only traditional brides and grooms.

They might want to consider local examples of businesses that say they have had great success tapping this new market for their goods and services.

Take Mark Ginsberg, president of Iowa City jeweler M.C. Ginsberg, who has used inclusive marketing materials for years. Ginsberg recently told a reporter that his business has seen a “tremendous increase” in sales since same-sex marriage was legalized here.

Or, consider the success of the Iowa City/Coralville Area Convention and Visitors Bureau's efforts to identify the Iowa City/Coralville area as same-sex marriage-friendly. CVB President Josh Schamberger says he regularly receives calls from out-of-state same-sex couples looking to get hitched. Since same-sex marriage became a legal option in Iowa, one-fourth of the marriage licenses issued in Johnson County has gone to same-sex couples.

Wedding services are a lucrative industry in this country, and same-sex weddings are no exception. That goes for Iowa's same-sex couples and marriage tourists from surrounding states.

We don't pretend that some customers will reject businesses that go after the same-sex marriage dollar. Certainly, it's a customer's right to not patronize any business. And it's a store's decision whether to actively seek business from this market.

But increasingly, businesses are coming to realize that catering to same-sex clientele isn't all that different from what they'd been doing all along.

In many ways, the same-sex wedding industry is just another expression of everyday business transactions in Iowa.