Mass. Marriage Stats Mirror 2004

Continuing the trend that was discussed here last year, statistics from the state of Massachusetts show that lesbians are still getting married at nearly twice the pace of gay men. When you factor in the much smaller size of the lesbian community relative to gay men, the difference is even more remarkable. The new data from 2005 shows a huge drop in the number of gay marriages overall, which makes sense, as the backlog of anxious couples is being depleted.

Combined, gay marriages of both varieties represent 5.2% of all marriages in Massachusetts, with gay men representing 1.8%. I'm going to guess that a pretty good number of these gay marriages are not between actual Massachusetts residents, considering what I've heard about the ways that some people are evading that requirement.

I think this is just further proof of my contention last year that marriage will always be something that few gay men will be interested in actually doing, regardless of how vehemently they support its righteousness. And yes, before all you scientists wade in sputtering about causation and correlation, I understand that extrapolating a small state sample onto a national populace is a risky business.

Data provided by Donna Rheaume of the Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics, whom I thank for her kind assistance.