Same-Sex Marriage in Massachusetts — Four Years Later

It has now been four years since Massachusetts authorized same-sex couples to marry. 

Here are some excerpts from Pam Belluck, Gay Couples Find Marriage Is a Mixed Bag, NY Times, June 15, 2008:

Some same-sex couples say being married has made a big difference, and some say it has made no difference at all. There are devoted couples who have decided marriage is not for them, couples whose lawyers or accountants advised them against marrying, and couples in which one partner wants to marry but the other does not. * * *

[A]fter an initial euphoric rush to the altar, the number of gay weddings here fell sharply and has declined each year since. Of the more than 10,500 same-sex couples married here since May 17, 2004, 6,121 wed in the first six months. There were 2,060 weddings in 2005; 1,442 in 2006; and 867 in the first eight months of 2007, the most recent data show. * * *

Nearly two-thirds of the weddings have been lesbian marriages * * *. And while nearly half of straight people marrying are under 30, more same-sex married couples of both sexes are older — nearly a third are in their 40s.

Lawyers say same-sex couples are more likely to draw up prenuptial agreements than straight couples are.