01/03/2017
The recent news regarding Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan losing their battle to have a civil partnership, rather than marriage, has raised questions over whether it should be extended to mixed sex couples.
The pair, who live in London and have a 20-month old daughter, want to legally fomalise their seven-year relationship, but believe marriage isn’t suitable for them. Instead, they want a partnership that's: “modern, (which is) symmetrical and that focuses on equality, which is exactly what a civil partnership is".
Another couple, Kate Stewart and Matthew Cole, share the same view. They had a civil partnership in Gibraltar in June last year. Having been together 10 years they wanted a ceremony that recognised they are equal, stating that marriage “is very much unequal depending on your religion”. The couple paid for the ceremony in pounds and have a certificate, but their civil partnership isn’t legally recognised in the UK.
While they aren’t opposed to marriage, they weren’t comfortable with it as they feel it has hangovers of inequality from the past. Instead, they believe civil partnership should be a choice for both gay and straight couples.
So, what are the differences between civil partnership and marriage?
- You can dissolve your marriage on the grounds of adultery, but not in a civil partnership
- In a civil ceremony you don’t have to exchange vows and you can include songs, readings and music, however, you can’t have any religious content
- Marriages need to be carried out publicly and can be conducted by a member of the clergy, while civil partnerships can be held in private
- Only the names of the fathers of each party need to be included on a marriage certificate in contrast to a civil partnership where both parents are named
All three judges at the Court of Appeal agreed that there’s a potential breach of human rights and that the status quo couldn’t continue indefinitely, but the government is still to decide whether to extend civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples, abolish them or phase them out.
Conservative MP, Tim Loughton, who recently introduced a Private Member's Bill to give mixed-sex couples the right to a civil partnership, believes the government has "no excuse" for delaying a change in the law as the bill received cross-party backing. The bill is due to be debated on 24th March.
In the meantime, Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, who have collected more than 72,000 signatures to an online petition calling for civil partnerships to be open to all, intend to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Please note that this article is meant as general guidance and not intended as legal or professional advice. Updates to the law may have changed since this article was published.