Over six thousand gay couples in partnerships

Gay couples in England and Wales has formed over six thousand civil partnerships since legislation came into place last December.

The figures released by the General Register Office today show that out of 6,516 same sex unions, 4311 gay couples and 2,205 lesbian couples registered their partnerships between December 21 2005 and March 31 2006.

The local authority of Westminster held the most ceremonies with 238, ahead of Brighton and Hove with 236 and Kensington and Chelsea with 194

Yesterday, Scotland’s registrar revealed that 343 civil partnerships have been recorded since the Civil Partnership Act came into force in December, a day earlier than England and Wales.