Honeymoon over for 'gay marriages' as civil partnerships halve in a year

Figures released yesterday show that 8,728 same- sex partnership ceremonies took place in 2007, compared with 16,106 in 2006.

The 46 per cent fall reflects the end of the boom which followed the introduction of civil partnerships at the end of 2005.

It is also possible that the ceremonies are proving less popular than their supporters had hoped.

Trail blazers: Sir Elton John and David Furnish were one of the first gay couples to become civil partners in December 2005. But now numbers are falling

The 8,728 figure compares with that of 275,140 for marriages in 2006, the last year for which data is available.

Even with the number of wedding ceremonies at a record low, there are still more than 30 for every civil partnership.

While drawing up the civil partnership laws, Whitehall officials had estimated that 5 per cent of the population was gay or lesbian.

This led them to predict that 62,000 gay couples would register in the first five years of ceremonies.

But yesterday's count showed that fewer that one in 1,000 unmarried adults took out a partnership in 2007.

Some 26,787 ceremonies have been conducted in the first 25 months of the new laws.

Gay pressure groups said the decline in numbers last year is "logical" and that rates are being "normalised".

A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics, which published the figures, said high rates in 2005 and 2006 "reflect the fact that many same-sex couples in long-standing relationships took advantage of the opportunity to formalise their relationship as soon as the legislation was implemented".

Almost a quarter of all civil partnerships  -  in which partners accept exactly the same legal privileges and responsibilities as husbands and wives  -  were registered in London.

The second most popular town was Brighton, which saw 199 male and 122 female partnerships registered during the year.

Around 55 per cent of those who took out partnerships were male.

Among those registering last year, 11 per cent of men and 23 per cent of women were in their second legal relationship following the dissolution of a previous partnership or marriage.

"Divorce" rates for partnerships have yet to be calculated, because the ONS fails to distinguish between past marriages and civil partnerships.

The partnerships have been popularised by celebrity couples such as Elton John and David Furnish.

But the decision last week of Little Britain comic Matt Lucas and long-term partner Kevin McGee to separate only 18 months after their civil ceremony suggests that such partnerships are as likely to collapse as more traditional marriages.

Civil partners are typically older than brides and grooms when they register their relationships.

Last year, the average age of a new partner was 42.8 for a man and 41.2 for a woman.

In 2006, the average age at marriage was 36.4 for men and 33.7 for women.