Maggie Gallagher has already debunked the false argument that gay marriage is an economic stimulus plan. Tami Fitzgerald has also countered the same claim in North Carolina and Minnesota State Rep. Steve Drazkowski has called this argument "desperate".

Now gay marriage activists are once again attempting to claim that if New Jersey redefines marriage it would result in the state bringing in an extra $500 million dollars over three years. That figure is based on the claims Brad Sears of the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law made back in 2008.

Really it confounds me why gay marriage activists continue to lead with this argument, because it's hard to find one more obviously false.

For instance, the Williams Institute claimed that Washington, DC's economy would be boosted by over $50 million dollars once they legalized gay marriage. That hasn't remotely materialized, as a local businessman explained last month. Last year the New York City's Comptroller office claimed legalizing gay marriage would boost the city's economy by almost $150 million dollars over three years. The clock is ticking on this claim now, and I'm not holding my breath.

In fact, California's non-partisan Legislative Analyst's Office and Department of Finance, when they examined the economic impact of redefining marriage back in 2008, found that it would be "negligible" over the long run. And as we wrote a couple weeks ago, there's plenty of evidence they didn't take into account that discarding our marriage traditional will result in real economic harm.

Meanwhile, the arguments proposed by Rick Santorum and other GOP presidential candidates on the campaign trail that healthy families and an intact marriage culture will result in less government spending and more economic output continues to gain traction -- and, most importantly -- a growing listening audience, especially as the harmful economic consequences of a weakened marriage culture become more apparent all around us.