Bid for Heterosexual Civil Partnerships Fails Second Reading in the Commons.




An amendment to the 2004 Civil Partnership Act has failed a second reading in the House of Commons.

Sponsored by Conservative MP Tim Loughton, the second reading could have paved the way for opposite-sex civil partnerships. Instead, it was adjourned, without a vote, until March. 

Same-sex couples have a choice: civil partnership or marriage. 

Opposite-sex couples do not, and campaigners believe this is discriminatory.




In January 2016,  Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan began a legal challenge against the Government after they were denied a civil partnership because they were a heterosexual couple. 

There's only one place in the British Isles where civil partnerships are available to everyone: the Isle of Man.

The Government has suggested that it could scrap civil partnerships altogether, arguing that there isn't enough interest to justify changing the law.  Even amongst homosexual couples, civil partnerships are declining in numbers. 

The problem is that Civil partnerships are now something of an anomaly: a hangover from a time when equal marriage didn’t exist. Now that they do, is it time for the humble civil partnership to be put out of its misery?




And as Harry Benson argues in the Huffington Post – there’s actually only three words in law that distinguish between marriage and civil partnership; why not just get married?

But there is something to be said for having an alternative to marriage.  In the last few decades the social structure of relationships and families has changed dramatically; should the Government be so quick in throwing away this latest addition?






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