CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Nearly 100 same-sex couples have been joined in civil unions since they became legal in New Hampshire on New Year’s Day.

William Bolton, director of the state Vital Records Administration, said 183 civil union licenses have been issued since Dec. 10, when the paperwork became available; most – 171 – were issued to New Hampshire residents.

The licenses are valid for 90 days. Officials know of 95 ceremonies that have taken place and 63 happened on Jan. 1, the day the civil unions law went into effect.

“I think mostly people are saying, ‘Let’s take the legal protections we can right now and keep up the fight,’ ” said Mo Baxley, a state lawmaker and executive director of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition, which supports full marriage for gay people.

The largest of those Jan. 1 ceremonies took place just after midnight on the Statehouse steps, when dozens of couples celebrated the new law in a mass ceremony in front of the building where it was passed and signed into law in 2007.

But the overall number of civil unions is small compared to marriage. Since Dec. 10, 614 marriage licenses have been issued to couples and at least 426 ceremonies have taken place, Bolton said.

Baxley says she already has heard from state residents who have been surprised to learn that civil unions don’t provide all the benefits of heterosexual marriage.

“People are starting to understand exactly what this law means and what it doesn’t mean,” she said.

New Hampshire is the fourth state in the country to adopt civil unions after Vermont, Connecticut and New Jersey. Massachusetts is the only state that allows marriage.

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Informtion from: Concord Monitor, http://www.cmonitor.com

AP-ES-01-12-08 1245EST