Headline: First round of data on same sex marriage released
From staff reports:
The Washington State Department of Health (DOH) released the first round of data on same sex marriage in the state since it was made legal with last November’s election.
According to the DOH, nearly 2,500 same sex couples were married between Dec. 6, 2012, and March 31, 2013. These marriages accounted for nearly 20 percent of total marriages in the state for the same time period.
In fact, 35 of 39 Washington state counties saw same sex couples tie the knot, with King County having the lion’s share of those marriages. In King County, one-third of all marriages for the December-March period were for same sex couples. The only counties not reporting same sex marriages are Ferry, Asotin, Garfield and Wahkiakum.
According to the DOH’s statistics, the majority of the same sex marriages in the state were among women, accounting for 63 percent of the same sex marriages in the first few months of the new law’s existence. 14 percent of the same sex marriages performed in Washington involved people who were both from out of state, the DOH notes.