Economists are projecting a $24 million impact on the Arkansas economy if a state ban on same-sex marriages is lifted.

Economists are projecting a $24 million impact on the Arkansas economy if a state ban on same-sex marriages is lifted.

Using Gallup poll and The Wedding Report data, the economy trackers at Nerdwallet say money spent on gay marriages would steadily rise following a stint of unions at courthouses from "pent-up demand."

With an average cost of $22,364 on weddings in Arkansas, number-crunchers at Nerdwallet calculated the state figure and a $2.5 billion impact nationwide.

"The most interesting thing to me about the report is the longevity aspect of it," said Jeremy Woody, a founding board member of the nonprofit River Valley Equity Center in Fort Smith. "Straight people will continue to have gay children and they will be with someone. … Barring the economic impact, we just want to have the same rights as everyone else."

During the week of May 9-16 in Arkansas, when same-sex marriages were allowed, 451 Arkansas same-sex couples married, according to the Americans for Marriage Equality at the Human Rights Campaign website for Arkansas. The first same-sex marriage license in Arkansas went to a Fort Smith couple.

LGBT rights in Arkansas is a particular focus for of the Human Rights Campaign, Woody said, in part to the high number of gay families raising children. He and his partner of five years, Brad Martin, are raising Woody’s 14-year-old child.

"The children as much as anyone want to see it passed and have their parents’ marriage legally recognized," Woody said.

Woody said he and Martin have chosen to get married in Fort Smith. They have been together for five years, and engaged for three.

"Many of the initial marriages were planned quickly and performed at courthouses," the Nerdwallet report states. "When same-sex marriage has been legal for several years, our assumption is couples will be able to spend more time planning their weddings, and they spend more money on the ceremony."

The number of Arkansas residents who self-identify as LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bi Transsexual) were also said to be "likely an underestimate" at 3.5 percent, with 1,082 same-sex marriage possibilities in the state’s total population of a little more than 2.9 million people. The gay marriage rate was projected at 1 percent.

Oklahoma’s gay population numbers were similar, at 3.4 percent of a total population of 3.8 million. Nerdwallet.com estimated 1,420 gay marriages in Oklahoma if the ban there is lifted, spurring a $32.8 million impact with an average cost of $23,112 per wedding.

America’s $51 billion wedding industry employs more than 800,000 people and gay weddings are seen as new market opportunities. The number of states with legalized same-sex marriage has increased to 35, plus parts of Missouri and Washington, D.C.

The Arkansas Supreme Court is expected before Christmas to hand down a ruling on whether or not lift the stay order on a ban imposed after a judge ruled the 2004 amendment unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker struck down Arkansas’ voter-approved gay marriage ban Tuesday but put the order on hold so the state can consider an appeal.

Josh Bugeji, a Fort Smith attorney who has given legal presentations on the issue to the River Valley Equity Center, said with the marriage ban language struck down the LGBT community is getting closer to becoming a "protective class" and sub-legislation or subsequent court cases will more narrowly define what how a same-sex marriage will be classified in Arkansas.

"Legality doesn’t equate morality," Bugeji said. "Slavery at one point was legal but it didn’t make it moral."