Croatia Passes Civil Partnership Bill & Nicky Morgan is the New Minister for Equalities.



čestitam, Croatia!

 File:Flag of Croatia.svgOn July 15th 2014, Croatia passed legislation allowing same-sex couples to become civil partners. Pink News reported the law change on Tuesday, saying:

 "It means same-sex couples will now enjoy equal inheritance rights, social benefits and tax deductions. Their unions will be called ”life partnerships” protected by the Constitution." 

 [Read full article here] 

 The legislation does not include rights on adoption, but it's an important step in a country where 65% of people recently voted in favour of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Campaigners are hopeful that the normalisation of civil partnership will lead to a wider acceptance of same-sex marriage in the future. 

Cabinet Re-shuffle.



File:Houses.of.parliament.overall.arp.jpgIn other news, David Cameron has appointed Nicky Morgan as the new Equalities Minister. The MP for Loughborough had previously voted against same-sex marriage. 

 In 2013, she told the Leicester Mercury that marriage was 'between a man and a woman'. So, it begs the question: Can a minister with conservative religious views be an effective minister for equalities? 

 Presumably,  David Cameron has anticipated some level of criticism to the appointment, because he has also promoted Nick Boles into the role of Junior Equalities Minister. Boles will have the responsibility of "implementing same-sex marriage." As an openly gay MP in a civil partnership, he's charged with overseeing the civil partnership-to-marriage conversions due to start in December. 

 Do you think Nicky Morgan will/can be a good minister for equalities? Get in touch via our social media channels or use the comment box :)











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