Numbers of Civil Unions Declining

Saturday, July 02, 2005 2:27 p.m. ET

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- In the last six months of 2000, when Vermont was the only state in the nation recognizing anything resembling marriage for gays and lesbians, 1,709 couples were joined in civil unions.

The popularity has waned every year since and has plummeted since Massachusetts began permitting same-sex marriages a year ago and several Canadian provinces did the same.
For all 12 months of 2004, 711 couples obtained civil unions "and we won't even come close to that this year," said Rich McCoy, chief of public health statistics at the state Health Department.

"I would say the primary reason is same-sex marriage in Massachusetts," McCoy said. "Many, many of our civil unions in the first couple of years were to couples in Massachusetts. Also ... the numbers we had coming from Canada dropped off. Now Connecticut has its own civil union law. We did get couples from Connecticut."

Civil unions have been most popular with out-of-state couples. Of the 7,549 couples who have had civil union ceremonies since July 1, 2000, only 1,137 have been Vermonters. There have been 78 dissolutions, or divorces. Slightly more than two-thirds of the couples have been women, McCoy said.

Elsewhere, California couples can register with the state and qualify for all the benefits of marriage except for the right to file taxes jointly. Oregon is close to becoming the third state to offer civil unions. [found on Wired News]