Civil union celebrant applications are pouring into Internal Affairs, despite a doom-saying opinion from the President of the Celebrants Guild last week which suggested not many registered marriage celebrants would be interested in applying for the civil union role. 138 applications have been received in the week since a nationwide ad campaign in newspapers called for would-be celebrants to step up, and Internal Affairs spokesman Tony Wallace says they expect many more applications before the Civil Union Act comes into force on April 26. "It is difficult to say exactly how many celebrants will be needed. The first year will determine if there is a sufficient number. There is a lot of subjectivity around the exact numbers which will be required," he says. Meanwhile, 84-year-old marriage celebrant Frank Geddes of Northland has quit his role in a fit of pique over the new law, mistakenly thinking it would require him to perform civil unions for “abhorrent” same-sex couples. Existing marriage celebrants do not automatically become civil union celebrants, meaning they – and anyone else – need to apply and be approved.
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Monday, 17th January 2005 - 12:00pm