US: In Washington State 17% of all marriages in the last year were between gay couples
A year ago today same-sex marriages began taking place in Washington State, a month after voters chose at a referendum to legalise it, and since then a large proportion of marriages were between gay couples.
Between 6 December 2012 and September 2013, 17% of all marriages were between two people of the same sex.
The state saw 7,000 same-sex couples take place in that period. Around a quarter of those were out-of-state gay couples, and of those, 524 were from Oregon, 170 from Texas and 155 from California.
Out of the 39 counties in the state, 38 reported that same-sex marriages had taken place over the ten month period, reports the Olympian.
The most populous county King, saw 3,452 gay couples get married, with Clark, on the border with Oregon, reporting 785.
On a momentous night for LGBT equality on 6 November 2012, the west coast state followed Maine and Maryland in passing a referendum in support of marriage rights for gay couples, and Minnesota voted against outlawing equal marriage.
Although Washington’s legislature initially legalised the measure in February of the same year,opponents succeeded in gathering enough signatures to force a state ballot.
The law took effect a month later on 6 December.
