You will no doubt be shocked to hear that when couples have the choice of getting married or civil-unioned, they’ll opt for marriage.
That’s the finding in New Zealand, which granted marriage equality this summer. In the first month, ten times more couples married than got a civil union (33 versus 355).
That trend has since held steady. Only eight couples went for civil unions in December, compared to 23 last year. That’s the lowest point yet for civil unions, so we wouldn’t be surprised if eventually they went away altogether and were converted into plain old marriages.
New Zealand has about 4.4 million residents, about the same as Kentucky. But the country has seen a massive influx of Australian tourists seeking to wed. One third of NZ’s marriages in the past year were to Australian couples. (Marriage equality is still banned on the prison island.)
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Public opinion in the country has generally been strongly in favor of the freedom to marry. A slew of polls in 2012 show support leading by 15 to 20 points. Meanwhile, anti-equality activists have waned.
Strangely, though, the “Protect Marriage News Zealand” campaign recently relaunched. They’re building their mailing list with a “petition” — really just a way to gather email addresses — and a handful of blog posts about the importance of marriage and pamphlets available for download. Pamphlets!
You may be wondering why this post includes a photograph of German tennis player Tommy Haas holding a koala on a balcony in Australia. To which we say, shhhh, just enjoy the photo.
jromiro
Nice picture of a guy with a Koala in Australia…
And here I hoped Queerty would know the difference. Oh well, the guy’s cute, so you have that. ¬¬’
Mezaien
@jromiro: You cannot expects anything from Queerty.
anitaha milton
my step-dad just purchased a 6 month old Ford Taurus just by working online with a computer. have a peek at this website… http://x.co/3pzIe
IJelly
Umm, that’s a promo picture of tennis star Tommy Haas done for the Australian Open. So Queerty, I have 3 things to say about this. First of all Mr. Haas is straight. Second, koalas are from Australia, not New Zealand. Third, why oh why are you showing a picture of a guy holding a koala in an article about same-sex marriage? Honestly WTF.
SteveDenver
“Meanwhile, anti-equality activists have waned.”
Have the numbers really waned, or is nobody paying attention to them and the media ignoring their stupid noise?
I was surprised at a breakfast diner when three guys who looked like they had been hunting for the past week ambled in and sat down. Midway through breakfast, the fat one said something about queers getting married and lynching and burning. The cute tall one said, “Are you really going to be that idiotic? The world’s changing, don’t be so stuck in stupidity.”
Then the fat one looked at me and I winked at him. I’m so glad a coffee mug didn’t hit my head when I turned around.