An interesting book-end to this post from the other day, which links to a discussion of why the rate of same-sex marriage in Canada is so low, is a story in today’s New York Times. The story quotes a new study from UCLA’s Williams Institute indicating that 3,800 same-sex couples have been marrying every month in California. In the three months covered by the study (from mid-June when same-sex marriage became available until mid-September), more same-sex couples married in California than married in Massachusetts in four years. The rush to marry is attributed, at least in part, to the looming referendum on the November ballot that may add a ban on same-sex marriage to the California Constitution and effectively overturn the California Supreme Court decision that opened the way for same-sex marriage in that state.
It is interesting to see how legally privileging marriage over all other relationships combined with a seemingly fixed deadline on gaining access to that privileged status has motivated same-sex couples to enter into marriages, possibly in undue haste.
-Tony Infanti
