State releases partial gay marriage stats
ALBANY -– Nearly 5,000 gay people have wed since the state legalized marriage equality laws last summer, the state Health Department reported Wednesday.
The numbers are likely quite low since they do not include gay marriage ceremonies performed in New York City, which the state does not track. Besides that large reporting gap, the numbers also do not show a complete picture for other areas in the state because 20 percent of licenses recorded since July do not list the gender of the couples getting married; such information is voluntary on marriage licenses.
Given those caveats, the numbers released Wednesday show 7 percent of licenses issued from July through December were to gay couples. The gay marriage ceremonies slowed considerably in January and no numbers were provided for February.
The DOH numbers show 1,001 gay male couples were wed since July, while 1,416 female gay couples registered to marry.
The peak month? Last August, when 607 gay couples wed around the state.
The state could not provide a county-by-county breakdown.
-- Tom Precious
