Minneapolis Mayor Invites Gay Chicagoans to Marry in His City

The mayor of Minneapolis told Chicagoans Thursday that his city should be their kind of town for same-sex weddings.

Mayor R.T. Rybak chose the Windy City to launch Minneapolis’s ad campaign urging same-sex couples from other cities, especially in the Midwest, to get married in the Minnesota metropolis, the Chicago Tribune reports. Minnesota’s marriage equality law went into effect August 1, while similar legislation is still pending in Illinois.

“You could fly to Minneapolis today and by the afternoon you would be eligible for 111 federal legal advantages,” he said while appearing at the Center on Halsted, Chicago’s LGBT community center. “If all you did was file a joint tax return, you could save the cost for not only you, but your whole wedding party.”

Minneapolis businesses would see financial advantages too: Rybak noted that one wedding can generate up to $10,000 in spending. “If I was the mayor of any city in Illinois, I would be really frightened,” he said, according to the Tribune. “Chicago and other towns stand to lose a lot of money. My advice is to get on board. This is going to happen. People are going to remember how long it took for Illinois to come around.” He added that he hopes Illinois does come around, but “until then, we’re happy to take your money.”

Minneapolis officials will also take the campaign to two Wisconsin cities, Milwaukee and Madison, as well as farther west to Denver.