Well, according to reports, in a typical June week the state of California issues 2,460 marriage licenses. But in just two days after making gay marriage legal in California there were 2,700 marriage licenses issued.
That doesn’t really mean too much. Yes, marriage license issuances went up. Not all of those were gay people getting married. These reports are for total marriage licenses. Let’s do the math.
- 2,460 per week is the norm (total licenses sans the gay marriages)
- Divide that number by 7 = 351.43
- Multiply that by 2 = 702.86
That’s the number of straight marriages we would have normally expected on any two consecutive June days in California, statewide. Subtract that number by the 2,700 licenses issued during those two days and that’s the number of gay marriage licenses issued, give or take. Roughly 2,000 licenses for gay couples - statewide, in two days.
Now, is that normative? No. You can expect that number to level off by next month. The initial surge of interest is due to the state of California opening the flood gates. It is likely, given that only a small percentage of the population is gay, that the typical 2,460 marriage licenses issued in a week will only slightly increase across the state.
What could happen is an influx of homosexual couples moving to California to take advantage of the new benefits issued them under California law. What is more likely to happen is gay couples living in other states will vacation in California, get married while they are there, and lobby their home states to gain the same privileges under their own state’s laws. For some, that will result in success sooner, but for others, it may never happen. A national push for gay marriage acceptance nationwide will continue to rip the country apart - socially, morally, and politically. The gay battle has just begun.
