premise: Nearly 700 "gay marriages" will take place in England and Wales next week when arrangements for new civil partnerships come into force, official statistics released Friday showed.
  Some 687 same-sex couples will take part in ceremonies to legally recognise their relationships next Wednesday, when England and Wales lift the veil on "gay marriage", the General Register Office (GRO) said.
  The central London borough of Westminster leads the way with 20 all-male ceremonies.
  The Civil Partnership Act comes into force on Monday in Northern Ireland and Tuesday in Scotland but no projected figures for first-day ceremonies were available, the equivalent bodies there told AFP.
  The new legislation, which allows gay couples to obtain the same rights as heterosexual couples in areas such as employment, pension and inheritance, came into force on December 5.
   What will taking part in ceremonies accomplish for same-sex couples?
hypothesis: arrangements for new civil partnerships come into force