There is no way to know exactly how many same-sex marriages have been performed in California because the state does not collect information on the sex of couples who register to marry.
Gates said researchers arrived at their estimates by comparing the number of marriages in each county last year, before gay marriage was legal, with the number this year. Any increase was assumed to be from same-sex couples tying the knot.
The only exception is San Francisco, which is keeping an exact tally of same-sex marriages. There have been 2,708 from June 17 to Sept. 17.
Gates speculated that many of the marriages in San Francisco and some other counties may be attributed to out-of-state couples, because many of the places with the biggest spikes in marriages -- Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Riverside counties -- are top tourist destinations.
California and Massachusetts are the only two states in the country to allow same-sex marriage. And until recently, Massachusetts allowed only legal residents to marry.
Also this month, the California Department of Public Health said that it is changing the state's marriage license form -- again.
After same-sex marriage became legal, the state released forms that eliminated "bride" and "groom" and replaced them with "Party A" and "Party B."
Many couples were offended by the change. One couple filed a lawsuit demanding to be allowed to identify themselves as bride and groom.
State officials refused to comment on the suit, but the new forms, set to go into effect Nov. 17, give couples the option of identifying themselves as bride and groom.
Couples can also choose to identify themselves as bride and bride or groom and groom. Or they can leave the space blank.
Of course, if Proposition 8 is approved by voters, the state may need to change the forms again.
In a report filed with the secretary of state's office, the No-on-8 campaign disclosed it had raised $15.75 million by the end of last month, including $1.36 million from donors giving less than $1,000. The no-campaign has spent $14.7 million this year, including $10.4 million on television advertising.
Among the major donors to No-on-8 were several wealthy gay rights advocates; in addition, the Service Employees International Union has given $500,000 and the California Teachers Assn. $250,000.
The Yes-on-8 campaign had not filed its disclosure by late Monday.
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jessica.garrison@latimes.com
dan.morain@latimes.com
