No takers yet for Hackney Council’s gay marriage proposal

See you there at one minute past midnight? Hackney Town Hall could host one of the UK’s first gay marriages – maybe even the first. Photograph: The Hackney Citizen

Are gay couples council-phobic?

Probably not, though like an unrequited Valentine’s Day card, a heartfelt marriage proposal by Hackney Council has as yet yielded no takers.

The Town Hall wants to be the first local authority in the country to conduct a gay wedding.

But the clock is ticking in the search for a same sex couple wanting to tie the knot at the very moment gay marriage becomes legal – one minute past midnight on Saturday 29 March.

Hackney could make history if it pips other boroughs to the post and weds a same sex couple at this somewhat unconventional hour.

A call out on the council’s website urges love-struck gay couples to contact its registrars “as soon as possible”.

Potential wedding venues include Hackney Town Hall, Stoke Newington Town Hall and Clissold House.

Hackney’s Deputy Mayor Sophie Linden said: “Our registrars have been conducting civil partnership ceremonies since they became legal in 2005, and they’re really looking forward to conducting marriages which will give same sex couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.”

To be considered for a same sex marriage, partners must make an appointment at a register office and submit required documents.

This week Hackney Council received an award for being one of the most LGBT-friendly employers in the country, according to Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index.