Honeymoon is over for gay weddings [in UK]

[CactusCarlos]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2251581,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=11

Honeymoon is over for gay weddings

Ceremonies fall by 55 per cent after a boom year

Denis Campbell
Sunday February 3, 2008
The Observer


The number of gay weddings has plummeted by more than 50 per cent in the past year. Civil partnerships became legal for homosexuals in December 2005, allowing them to acquire the same sorts of tax and pension rights as straight married couples.
Initially, thousands of gay and lesbian couples held ceremonies. However, a survey by the Local Government Association found that all the 40 councils across England they surveyed had experienced a fall in the number taking place - the figures show an average drop of 55 per cent in 2007 from 2006.

The largest fall was 90 per cent in Bracknell, Berkshire, and the smallest was 31 per cent in Barnet, north London. Brighton recently celebrated becoming the first place to host 1,000 civil partnerships. But while 636 gay couples tied the knot in Brighton and Hove in 2006, only 320 did so in 2007. 'The introduction of civil partnership legislation prompted an initial rush for couples who wanted to register as soon as possible,' said a council spokeswoman. 'Civil partnerships have become an accepted part of our society and we're very happy to have played a part helping couples to achieve this.'
Singer Elton John, broadcaster Clare Balding and government ministers Ben Bradshaw and Angela Eagle are among those who have exercised their rights under the Civil Partnership Act.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics confirm the downward trend. They show that while 16,100 couples formed a civil partnership in the UK in 2006, at an average of 4,000 every three months, just 4,060 did so in the first half of last year. 'One reason for the decline may be that some gay people aren't interested in formalising their relationship,' said Tony Grew, editor of the pinknews.co.uk website. 'Some don't want to have all the formality of a civil partnership because they think it's the death knell of a relationship.'

Some highly political gays, such as activist Peter Tatchell, see civil partnerships as part of a process of 'assimilation' or integration into wider society that they reject in favour of a proudly 'queer' lifestyle. Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights lobby group Stonewall, said: 'There was a big pent-up demand from couples in long-term relationships to form a civil partnership, which is why so many did it early on after the law changed in late 2005, so a tailing-off would be logical.'

Summerskill pointed out that when civil partnerships were introduced the government predicted that about 11,000 to 22,000 would take place by 2010. 'But we have already far exceeded that number,' he added. There were 1,950 in December 2005, then 16,100 during 2006, and more than 4,000 in the first half of last year, according to the Office of National Statistics.

Grew said that the low rate so far of gay divorce - known as 'dissolution' of a civil partnership - and the long time spent together by many couples who form one, 'shows that gay people are treating them with due solemnity and respect. Generally, they take them more seriously than many people who get married. The people who go for it are older, have been together longer and have more committed relationships. That's why we won't see the 40 per cent or 50 per cent divorce rates we see in heterosexual marriages,' he said.

In the Lancashire County Council area, home to 1.2 million people, there were 196 civil partnerships in 2006 but just 122 last year and only two during January. Steve Lloyd, the council's head of registrations, said: 'I think the number of civil partnerships we saw during 2007 is probably typical of how it will be from now on. Many gay couples form a partnership to get the new legal rights that come with it, and they're often quite quiet affairs compared to the big extravagant receptions you find at some weddings.'

Marital Profile

· 283,730 weddings took place across the UK in 2005, 10 per cent fewer than in the previous year and far below the record 480,285 of 1972.

· 65 per cent of marriages in 2005 were civil ceremonies.

· 40 per cent of marriages in 2005 involved people getting hitched for at least the second time.

·148,141 couples got divorced in the UK in 2006, 7 per cent fewer than in 2005 and the second consecutive fall in the annual total. It's the lowest number since 1977 and 18 per cent lower than the peak figure for divorce, which came in 1993, when 180,018 couples split.

· 16,100 civil partnerships were formed during 2006, but just 1,690 in the first quarter of 2007 and only 2,370 between April and June.

Source: Office for National Statistics

[Sonnabend]

I know one who "got married" in the UK consulate, he lives here in Sydney and now tells everyone he is "married"....

[RedTail]

Some gay people say marriage is for "Straights" and no gay person should do go through it...others say marriage is for everyone... the internal rift is something that not alot of people know about, but at eye level, knowing this, the results were expected.

*TKay*