Civil Partnerships For Straight Couples, Too

In the UK Equal Love is fighting for marriage equality by sending straight couples to apply for civil partnerships.

They say that equality goes both ways, and just as gay folks should be able to apply for marriage, so straight people should be able to apply for civil partnerships.

Currently, the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 only allows civil partnerships to same sex couples.

On November 9th four straight couples will apply for civil partnerships and four gay couples will apply for marriage.

• Working on the assumption that all eight will have their bids rejected – an earlier attempt by Katherine and Tom to register for a partnership failed in 2009 – Equal Love plans to launch a legal challenge on the basis of human rights legislation.

The reasons the straight couples gave for not wanting a marriage are many. They don’t agree with the traditional institution of marriage, they don’t want to be part of an institution that is homophobic, and they feel like partners not “husband and wife”.

Legally, there is very little difference between civil partnerships and marriage. There are next of kin rights, immigration and nationality rules are the same, there are parental obligations, partners must provide reasonable maintenance, and if they break up they need to go through a court-based dissolution.

What is different is that “a partnership is formed when the second of the two parties signs the partnership papers. This is not necessarily a public ceremony or even an event that happens at the same time as the first signature.”

This means that the two can become partnered privately and don’t need to exchange spoken words, as is done with a marriage. Civil partnerships are also not religious, as marriages are. Of course this could be incorporated into it, but clergy cannot conduct civil partnerships — a registrar must do it.

So when it comes down to it, the only real difference is that they are civil and not religious (but a registrar can perform a marriage), and that they are easier to sign up to.  Really, not a whole lot of difference. In fact, France has been allowing any couple of any gender make up to have civil partnerships since 1999.

Personally, I don’t buy the argument that people don’t want to be husband and wife but instead want to be partners. Marriage is what you make it, not what history determines it to be. When I marry, I will be both wife and partner, one does not exclude the other.

But, maybe if they really do feel repressed by the institution of marriage, then having a civil partnership will make a difference to them and will make for a happier union. It that’s the case then there’s no reason they shouldn’t have that choice available if that’s what they want.

I hope this petition for human rights is successful because there’s no reason gay or straight people should be forced into certain legal partnerships — it should be up to them when and how they form a relationship and how it should be defined, not up to the government.