Straight British couple seeks 'gay' partnership

[Praxius]

Straight British couple seeks 'gay' partnership - CTV News

LONDON — Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle are in love and want to tie the knot -- but they don't want to get married.

The 26-year-old Londoners think they should be allowed to have a civil partnership, a form of legal union available in Britain only to same-sex couples.

On Tuesday, after having their application to form a civil partnership rejected by officials at their local town hall in Islington, north London, they said they will go to court to win the right. They are being backed by gay rights activists, who hope a ruling that allows straight couples the right to a civil partnership would mean, in turn, that gay couples have the right to wed.

"The titles of husband and wife and all the things that pop into people's heads when you say you're getting married don't appeal to us," said Doyle, a student. "In our day-to-day life we feel like civil partners -- we don't feel like husband and wife, and we want the government to recognize that."

Marriage and civil partnership are virtually identical in law, and activists argue both should be open to all couples.

"We think it's time there was one law for everyone," said activist Peter Tatchell, who is organizing the "Equal Love" campaign and has lined up eight couples -- four gay, four straight -- willing to take their cases to court.

"Denying heterosexual couples the right to have a civil partnership is heterophobic," he said.

Some legal experts think there is a strong case, because discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation infringes Britain's human rights law.

"How can the government justify this, when the legal rights attached to each legal institution are identical?" said law professor Robert Wintemute, who is advising the campaign. "For most purposes, the two institutions are identical -- except for the name."

Britain introduced civil partnerships in 2005, giving gay couples the same legal protection, adoption and inheritance rights as heterosexual married partners -- but not the label of marriage.

The Netherlands, Canada, Belgium, Portugal and Spain have legalized same-sex marriage, while Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland have laws similar to Britain's.

The British compromise was welcomed by many. Thousands of couples have tied the civil partnership knot since then, in venues ranging from city halls to the Houses of Parliament.

But for some, the distinction still rankles.

"We really appreciate the civil partnerships," said Sharon Ferguson, a pastor in the Metropolitan Community Church who hopes to wed partner Franka Strietzel but has been turned down for a marriage license. "But particularly because of my Christian faith, it's marriage that I want."

I figured it'd only be a matter of time.

 

[petros]

It's a corporate merger.

 

[Unforgiven]

"In our day-to-day life we feel like civil partners -- we don't feel like husband and wife, and we want the government to recognize that."

Does the government have to care how you feel or does it have the right to feel indifferent now and again? What would happen if the government recognized that they sometimes feel like brother and sister, mother and son, and not to mention, dirty uncle and the naughty maid?

What good fun and it's only a matter of time before "marriage" is just a word and everyone can be married anyway.

Though I probably don't have to point it out, it's remarkable just how well heterosexuals are handling the news that because of their sexual orientation they are at this point excluded from buying a licence for a same sex civil union.

 

[Praxius]

"In our day-to-day life we feel like civil partners -- we don't feel like husband and wife, and we want the government to recognize that."

Does the government have to care how you feel or does it have the right to feel indifferent now and again? What would happen if the government recognized that they sometimes feel like brother and sister, mother and son, and not to mention, dirty uncle and the naughty maid?

What good fun and it's only a matter of time before "marriage" is just a word and everyone can be married anyway.

Though I probably don't have to point it out, it's remarkable just how well heterosexuals are handling the news that because of their sexual orientation they are at this point excluded from buying a licence for a same sex civil union.

Probably never occurred before.... I never thought about it personally until I heard this report, but that's because I'm straight and known since I was a kid that I could be married and I did get married.

I'm not some stupid wankers trying to make a political statement for the gays I feel sympathy for.

It's a smart move and I support gays being able to marry too..... but come on... nobody's fooled with this whole crap about "We don't feel like husband and wife, and we want the government to recognize that"

RECOGNIZE COMMON LAW, BIZ'NITCHES!!

 

[Bar Sinister]

Interesting. Does it create any kind of problem? It seems to me that two males or two females that wish to live together as non-sexual partners should be acceptable.

 

[Unforgiven]

I'm not some stupid wankers

Well I for one am very glad that you've cleared this up! :lol: