Newcastle couple Trent Kandler and Paul McCarthy are among those to marry in NZ Australians made up a large chunk of the same-sex couples who married in New Zealand last year. A total of 97 couples made the trip across the Tasman to wed between mid-August, when marriage equality came into effect, and December 2013. In all there were 361 same-sex weddings, with the bulk being the 202 Kiwi pairs. Other couples came to New Zealand to get married from China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the UK. Of these, 102 were changes of relationships from civil unions. "We are seeing continued national and international interest by same sex couples in getting married in New Zealand," says Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Jeff Montgomery. He's expecting the number of same sex weddings to increase during the summer 'wedding season'. The figures: · Female-Female = 195 (of these 55 were a change of relationship from civil union) o 47 couples from Australia o 4 couples from China o 4 couple from Hong Kong o 4 couple from United Kingdom · Male-Male = 166 (of these 47 were a change of relationship from civil union) o 50 couples from Australia o 6 couples from China o 4 couples from Thailand
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 24th January 2014 - 3:28pm