January 1st marks a new day for New Hampshire. The Granite State will start offering $45 civil unions: a legislative evolution that will certainly come up on the campaign trail ahead of the January 8th primary.

Social conservatives may criticize the unions as too similar to marriage and they'd be right: the unions are equivalent to marriage. Well, almost: civil unions don't generate quite as much revenue as marriages, but they still definitely help the economy:

…Even conservative estimates are that civil unions will add millions to New Hampshire’s economy.

A 2005 study predicted that legalizing same-sex marriage in New Hampshire would bring in an additional $630,000 a year in rooms and meals taxes in the first three years… A subsequent study in 2006 calculated that 1,352 gay couples, each spending about $7,600 — or one-quarter of the $30,510 straight couples spend on weddings in New Hampshire — would spend more than $10.3 million on weddings if they were allowed to marry.

How can anyone – especially a Republican – argue with $10.3 million for a state's economy?