Scotland Loves Marriage Equality

Since the nation's marriage equality law went into effect last December, one in eight marriages have been for same-sex couples.

Same-sex couples in Scotland are dancing a Highland fling over equal marriage rights — in the first quarter after the nation’s marriage equality law came into force in December, same-sex marriages have accounted for one in eight of the total, reports Glasgow’s Daily Record.

“Of 3,889 marriages in Scotland since the law was changed, 462 involved people of the same sex,” the Daily Record reports, citing data from National Records of Scotland for the quarter that ended March 31. The high proportion of same-sex marriages likely is due to pent-up demand from couples who were waiting to marry, and the percentage will likely drop later on, the paper notes.

Still, the numbers are significant, said Stonewall Scotland director Colin Macfarlane. “The fact that nearly 500 same-sex couples have married since January shows just how important equal marriage is to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans people,” he told the Daily Record. “There can be no denying that the policy of equal marriage has been a huge success.”

Scotland previously allowed same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships; under the marriage equality law, they can convert these to marriages.