Joint record number of same-sex couples in Barnet marry

20 same-sex couples to marry in Barnet in 2022, reports Andrew Dowdeswell, Data Reporter

A record number of same-sex couples in Barnet got married in 2022, new figures show.

It comes as more same-sex marriages have taken place in England and Wales than in any year since it was legalized in 2014.

Campaign group Out4Marriage said the rapid growth rate of same-sex marriage illustrated why legalizing it “was so important”.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics, which were released during Pride Month, show 20 same-sex couples married in Barnet in 2022.

This was up from 11 in 2019 and was also the highest joint figure of any year since same-sex marriage was legalized in 2014.

Nationally, the number of couples marrying has risen steadily since then, including 7,800 in 2022, the highest figure on record and more than 10% higher than in any other year.

Benjamin Cohen, co-founder of Out4Marriage, said: “Far from devaluing the institution of marriage, as some opponents argued at the time, same-sex marriage has enhanced and preserved the institution of marriage in our country.”

The ONS data also showed that those who did marry continued to do so increasingly later.

In 2022, the average age of first marriage for men and women in opposite-sex relationships was 32.7 and 31.2, respectively, the highest figures since records began in 1846.

The Marriage Foundation, a national charity which advocates for marriage as the best arrangement for all couples, said the figures undermined marriage.

Harry Benson, director of research at the Marriage Foundation, questioned the role it plays in political discourse, with the three-year average from 2020 to 2022 still well behind pre-pandemic levels.

He said: “The public message from our political class is that marriage doesn’t matter. It’s a decade since any minister mentioned marriage in a major speech and none of the three established parties have anything to say about marriage in their manifestos.”

Meanwhile, cohabitation before marriage was more popular than ever, with nine in 10 married couples doing so in 2021 and 2022, the highest figures since records began in 1994.

The Campaign for Equal Civil Partnerships said this showed civil partnerships were a “viable alternative” to marriage and questioned whether the government and other institutions supported them.

In Barnet, there were 774 same-sex marriages in 2022 – down from 890 in 2019.

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