Over 16,100 UK Gay Couples Tied the Knot in 2006

More than 16,100 same-sex couples registered under the United Kingdom’s marriage-like civil-partnership law in 2006, its first full year of existence, the Office for National Statistics said on Oct. 11.

About 4,000 of the ceremonies took place in London. 90 percent of the unions were in England, six percent in Scotland, three percent in Wales and one percent in Northern Ireland.

The average age of men entering a partnership was 47; for women, it was 44. Sixty percent of the unions were between men. A civil partnership carries the same rights and obligations as a marriage within the UK.