Over 70,000 Names on Mixed-Sex Civil Partnerships Petition




Over 70,000 people have signed a petition calling on the government to offer civil partnerships to mixed-sex couples.

Civil partnerships are only available to same-sex couples in the UK. In the Isle of Man, for example, they’re offered to everyone.

The petition was presented to Minister for Women and Equalities, Justine Greening, after the Government suggested there was a lack of evidence to support civil partnerships for mixed-gender couples.

Campaigners in favour are concerned that the Government could be getting ready to scrap civil partnerships entirely after barristers described the current situation as “untenable”.






Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan are at the forefront of the campaign. They’ve been attempting to change the law since they were denied a civil partnership back in 2014.

Left Foot Forward reported that on presenting the petition, Charles Keidan said:

 “The government has everything to gain by opening civil partnerships to different-sex couples. Civil partnerships offer the possibility of legal protections and family stability for three million unmarried couples – the fastest growing family type in the UK.Civil partnerships already exist for same-sex couples. It would now be fair, straightforward and popular for the government to extend them to everyone.”

There’s a wide-range of support from MPs too. Conservative MP Tim Loughton is quoted on The Campaign for Equal Partnerships website as saying:
“With cross-party support from MPs, I have tabled a Private Members’ Bill that would make a simple change to the wording of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and thereby allow equal civil partnerships.
“The Bill should come in front of the House early next year and if the Government were to support us we could be seeing mixed-gender couples getting civilly partnered in the not too distant future.”
It’ll be interesting to see how far momentum from the petition will carry forward the issue of civil partnerships for everyone – we’ll keep you updated. 

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