LONDON – The British government is expected to announce full marriage equality for gays and lesbians under reforms to marriage laws to be announced soon. The reported move will end the final major legal discrimination against gays and lesbians in Britain.
According to the Sunday Times, a proposal to end the ban on same sex marriage will be announced by the Liberal Democrat equality minister Lynne Featherstone at the same time as the government announces the time table for civil partnerships to be held in religious buildings.
Civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 and offer gays and lesbian couples similar legal rights to straight married couples. Differences include the grounds for dissolution, some insurance and pension rights and they are not recognized as having the same status as marriage abroad.
Prior to the general election, deputy prime minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg wrote on PinkNews, “I support gay marriage. Love is the same, straight or gay, so the civil institution should be the same, too. All couples should be able to make that commitment to one another.”
In October, the party adopted full marriage equality including allowing straight couples to have civil partnerships as official party policy. The move was controversially not supported by the gay lobbying organization Stonewall.
A Whitehall source told the Sunday Times, “This is not just about gay rights but about religious freedom. Quakers and liberal Judaism want to do this. Attitudes have changed to gay marriage. We are going to look at what legislative steps we could begin to make gay marriage possible.”
Should full gay marriage be introduced, the only other significant legal discrimination against gay men in Britain will be the ban on donating blood, although the government have signaled in the past that they will look to end this practice.
