(Los Angeles, Calif.) A study released Thursday said that same-sex couples are eagerly taking advantage of the ability to marry or form civil unions when presented with the opportunity. 

The report compiles data from the 11 states that recognize same-sex couples through marriage, civil unions, domestic partnerships, or other legal statuses. These data also show that same-sex couples who marry or register are more likely to be female couples than male couples, and same-sex couples tend to be younger than existing different-sex married couples.

The findings also shed new light on the current experience in California, where thousands of same-sex couples are reported to have already married.

“Marriage clearly gets the most enthusiastic response from same-sex couples, as we’re seeing in California,” explained co-author M. V. Lee Badgett, research director of the Williams Institute and director of the Center for Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

“In Massachusetts, 37 percent of gay and lesbian couples got married within the first year that marriage was available, but only one in 10 gay couples registered a civil union or domestic partnership in the first year after the introduction of those statuses.”

The study predicts that if every state offered marriage to same-sex couples today, approximately 370,000 couples would marry in the next three years.

“Not only are same-sex couples getting legally partnered, but their relationships are just as stable as marriages of different-sex couples,” noted co-author Gary Gates, senior research fellow of the Williams Institute.

“Only 1-3 percent of same-sex couples dissolve their legal relationships each year, which is comparable to the 2 percent  of those in different-sex marriages who divorce annually.”

The US Census Bureau recently confirmed that they do not plan on counting same-sex married couples in the 2010 Census, instead relegating all of these couples to “unmarried partner” status. 

According to study co-author Gates, “This report demonstrates why it is so important for government agencies like the Census Bureau to find ways to count the more than 85,000 same-sex couples who are in legally recognized unions.”

This study was made possible by a grant from Merrill Lynch. Read the full study here.