Marriages Up 14% In NYC

Same-sex marriage has only been legal for six months, but NYC officials report a 14% rise in marriage licenses for 2011.

“We're overwhelmed,” Michael McSweeney, the city clerk, told the paper. “It's been much busier for us than this time last year, but we're delighted to see the extra business because we understand the impact. We're handling it. We're thrilled.” While New York City does not ask license applicants to identify by gender, officials believe that a 14% rise in demand, an increase of 4,042 licenses over last year, is due almost entirely to the unions of gay and lesbian couples. But New York City's gay marriage rate is difficult to determine because some of the licenses likely were issued to out-of-state couples.

I witnessed about ten of those marriages and (sort of) took part in two of them!