Nine same-sex couples are booked in to have registry office weddings around the country today, the first day same-sex marriages become legal in New Zealand. A minimum of 31 same-sex couples are expected to have their ceremonies today based on figures available from the Auckland, Manukau, Christchurch and from Rotorua registry offices. Figures from other centres have not been able to be collated due to disruptions resulting from the swarm of earthquakes and aftershocks affecting government offices in Wellington. A breakdown of where today's nine registry office same-sex weddings will be conducted is not available. Not all of the couples who marry today will be uniting for the first time. "A number of same-sex couples who are currently in a civil union have also decided to change their civil union to a marriage,” says Registrar-General Births, Deaths and Marriages, Jeff Montgomery. As the first rush to marry subsides a 2% increase in the overall numbers of weddings conducted in the future is expected, Montgomery has told GayNZ.com Daily News. He says this estimate is based on the effect noticed when Civil Unions were introduced and an "educated guess" based on historical experience.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 19th August 2013 - 12:13am