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(Amsterdam,
The Netherlands) After a flurry of same-sex marriages in 2001 when The
Netherlands became the first country in the world to allow gay and lesbian
couples to wed the number of couples marrying has leveled off the government
said Monday.
Nearly 2,500 same-sex couples married in 2001,
but since then the number has dropped to just over a thousand a year according
to Statistics Netherlands, a government agency that keeps track of trends in The
Netherlands.
In 2002 some ,1800 gay and lesbian couples tied
the knot and the numbers began to fall each year after that.
By 2004 about 1,200 same-sex couples
married. Last year it was just 1,100. This year Statistics Netherlands
said it expects about 1,200 gay weddings. The agency said that it appears the
decline has leveled off.
It said that it believes the higher numbers in
the first two years of same-sex marriage reflected the nigh number of couples
who had been together for some time and who wanted to take advantage of the new
law.
Since then the numbers show the backlog of
couples seeking to marry has diminished and those now marrying are a better
indication of same-sex marriage in general in The Netherlands.
But the agency also notes that marriage in
general - both same-sex and opposite-sex - has fallen off noticeably over the
past five years.
It also said that the percentage of same-sex
couples divorcing is about the same for gay and straight couples.
©365Gay.com 2006
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