The slow but steady progress of marriage equality laws around the country—six states and the District of Columbia now invest in officiants the power to pronounce couples husband and husband, and wife and wife—is an encouraging sign of evolving notions of civil rights.

It’s also welcome news to the wedding industry, a $70 billion a year enterprise, according to Forbes magazine. While a recent report from Brides magazine (“the #1 brand in the world for reaching engaged women”) revealed that the average U.S. couple spend $26,501 on their wedding, that’s actually a decline from earlier years. And the recent U.S. Census shows that the marriage rate in 2010—7.3 per every 1,000 people—was the lowest it’s been since 1970.

Same-sex weddings, then, represent a much-appreciated area of growth in the industry; when Vermont legalized same-sex wedding in 2009, for instance, a study by UCLA’s Williams Institute estimated that the new law would boost the state’s economy by $30.6 million and create 700 new jobs over the next three years.

It’s no wonder, then, that when news broke that a lesbian couple was suing a Vermont inn for allegedly violating anti-discrimination laws by refusing to allow them to hold their reception there, the state’s tourism industry rushed into damage-control mode.

The suit was filed by the Vermont chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Kate Baker and Ming Linsley. It alleges that last year the couple was told by the Wildflower Inn, in the Northeast Kingdom town of Lyndonville, that they couldn’t hold their reception there because they are gay. At least two other gay couples were treated similarly, the suit contends.

In response, the inn’s owners, Jim and Mary O’Reilly, issued a statement saying that hosting gay weddings ran counter to their Catholic beliefs: “We have never refused rooms or dining or employment to gays or lesbians. Many of our guests have been same-sex couples. We welcome and treat all people with respect and dignity,” they said. “We do not, however, feel that we can offer our personal services wholeheartedly to celebrate the marriage between same-sex couples because it goes against everything that we as Catholics believe in.”

The lawsuit charges that the inn violated Vermont’s Fair Housing and Public Accommodations Act, which bars public accommodations from refusing to serve people based on their sexual orientation. “This is a discrimination case,” ACLU attorney Joshua Black told the Associated Press. “It would be no different if you owned a store and said, We don’t want to sell clothes to you or give you food or any other public accommodation. The fact that it’s occurring in a new context shouldn’t affect the way we think about it.”

No sooner had the lawsuit been filed than Megan Smith, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing, released a statement reaffirming her agency’s commitment to all visitors. “I don’t know the details of this case, but I do know that Vermont businesses in the tourism industry welcome LGBT travelers with open arms,” Smith said, noting that her state was the first both to legalize civil unions, and then, later, to legalize same-sex marriages legislatively, rather than through a court order. “[W]e are deeply proud of these historic milestones,” said Smith, adding that, as a justice of the peace, she’s officiated at gay weddings.

“LGBT tourism is an important part of Vermont’s economy, and we are working more than ever to promote our state to LGBT travelers,” Smith said.

Also working in favor of gay couples in Vermont: the state has an anti-discrimination law that includes sexual orientation—a protection offered in fewer than half the states in the country. Indeed, 14 Stories, a New York- and Boston-based wedding planning firm that specializes in gay weddings, suggests couples find out the laws in the state where they plan to marry, noting that only 21 states offer protections based on sexual orientation.

“Come out of the closet right away when calling vendors,” the company urges the newly engaged. “Only hire people who give you a good vibe, who you feel like will have your back. There’s no reason that you should be treated any differently than straight couples.”