Gay marriages in California surpass those in Massachusetts

The data, released Monday by UCLA's Williams Institute, found that an estimated 11,000 same-sex couples were married in California from June 17, when the California Supreme Court began allowing the weddings, to Sept. 17.

As of spring, 10,385 same-sex couples had wed in Massachusetts since the state legalized such unions in May 2004, according to a study by the institute released in July.

Next month, Californians will decide whether gay couples can continue to marry when they vote on Proposition 8, which would amend the state Constitution to define marriage as between only a man and a woman.

Predictably, the two sides in that battle had dramatically different reactions to the study.

"People have waited for so long to be able to do this. . . . I'm sure that is the reason for the big response," said Stevie St. John, a spokeswoman for the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center. She added that she thought the huge number of marriages was "great."

Pastor Jim Garlow of Skyline Church in La Mesa, who has been rallying voters to pass the constitutional amendment, said: "The fact that there are big numbers doesn't change the reality that it is still bad for the country."

Garlow, who along with hundreds of other Christians, is observing a fast until election day as a way to show his support for the proposed amendment, added: "There are enormous numbers of people doing cocaine right now. . . . Simply because large numbers of people are doing something does not make it right."

Gary Gates, a demographer at the Williams Institute, a think tank devoted to the study of sexual orientation and the law, said the number of marriages, though large, represents only about 10% of the same-sex couples in California

"Who are these people getting married? What the other studies tell you is they are people in pretty long-term, stable relationships," he said.

There are more than 109,000 same-sex couples in California, an increase of 19,000 since 2000, according to a Williams Institute analysis of the U.S. Census. Nearly a quarter of these households have children -- and all together, there are more than 50,000 children living in same-sex households.