The Department of Internal Affairs is now providing a new online service to help people choose a marriage or civil union celebrant. Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Brian Clarke, says the online service is a quick and easy way of getting the name of a genuine celebrant. Previously people had to search through The New Zealand Gazette at a library or at one of their 58 Registry Offices nationwide. "We're pleased to be able to provide this service to the public. New Zealanders like the idea of getting married or entering a civil union and there are more and more happening. “Civil Unions have been possible since April 2005 and there were 302 that year, and last year there were 427 civil unions. ‘Last year there were 23,783 marriages, up from 20,470 in 2005.” The website is divided into two categories, organisational and independent celebrants. Organisational celebrants are priests or ministers of churches or are attached to other organisations or fellowships. There are 7,552 religious and organisational celebrants. You can search for these celebrants by name or organisation. The second group is the 1,622 independent celebrants listed by name and region. The 680 civil union celebrants are listed on a separate web page. Mr Clarke says a small number of exempt organisations, such as The Society of Friends or Quakers have permission to solemnize marriages without a celebrant but still require a marriage licence. A link to the ‘locating a Civil Union Celebrant' page is provided below. You can also get information by phoning the Department of Internal Affair free on 0800 22 52 52. GayNZ.com also has a listing of GLBT friendly Celebrants at the second link below. Ref: Department of Internal Affairs, GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Saturday, 24th March 2007 - 12:00pm