300 gay marriages in Belgium

28 May 2004

BRUSSELS – An impressive 300 gay weddings have taken place in Belgium since the country passed a law legalising same sex unions a year ago, it has been announced.

According to official figures released on Friday, gay weddings represented 1.2 percent of all marriages registered in Belgium over the past 12 months.

Interestingly, gay couples in Flanders seem far keener on the sound of wedding bells tan their counterparts in Wallonia or the Brussels region.

Of the 300 gay unions celebrated last year, 240 took place in Flanders, 38 in Wallonia and just 22 in the capital and its suburbs.

According to gay rights groups, the relatively high number of same-sex weddings is due to the fact that many couples had been waiting for years for the right to get married.

Subject: Belgian news