Nearly half of all same-sex marriages in New Zealand have been couples who have traveled from overseas to wed in our corner of the world. The Marriage Amendment Act officially came into effect three years ago today, four months after it passed it’s final reading in Parliament. Since 19 August 2013, 2118 same-sex couples have wed, 970 of those being couples from other countries who have decided to make New Zealand their wedding destination. Same-sex marriage is now legal in at least 22 nations although according to a report by global research group WORLD Policy Analysis Centre at the University of California, Los Angeles, only five countries give constitutional rights to people regardless of the sexual orientation or gender. These countries are Britain, Bolivia, Ecuador, Malta and Fiji. New Zealand is among five nations that, according to the report, give equal rights to people based on sexual orientation but not gender identity.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 19th August 2016 - 4:22pm