After legalizing same-sex marriages, California has registered 11,000 such marriages in the first three months of legalization, surpassing the number of such marriages in the four years after they were legalized in Massachusetts. California and Massachusetts are the only two states in the country where same-sex marriages are legal. UCLA’s Williams Institute conducted a study which estimated that 11,000 same-sex couples were married in California from June 17, when the California Supreme Court began allowing the weddings, to Sept. 17. Gary Gates, a demographer at the Williams Institute, claims that the number of same-sex marriages represents only about 10% of the same-sex couples in California.
Next month Californians will vote on Proposition 8, which would amend the state’s constitution to define marriage as between only a man and a woman. Meanwhile, the California Department of Public Health is once again changing the state’s marriage license form. After same-sex marriages were legalized, the language on the form replaced the words “bride” and “groom” with the terms “Party A” and “Party B”. Due to objections, the form is being changed to allow the option of identifying as bride and groom, as well as groom and groom, bride and bride, or leaving the space blank.
