- Equality under the law
As the law stands same-sex couples are banned from getting married, and are instead restricted to the separate and symbolically different ‘Civil Partnership’, an institution that is not available to mixed-sex couples.
Whilst civil partnership offers most – though not all – of the same legal rights and responsibilities as marriage, it does not carry the same social significance and cannot be described as equality.
The existence of a ‘separate but equal’ segregated system of family law treats same-sex couples as though they are different and inferior, and sends out the wrong message at a time when the Government is seeking to tackle homophobia in society.
Solution: Change the law to allow same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partnership.
- Protect religious Freedom
Currently religious celebrants are banned from conducting same-sex marriage regardless of their wishes. This is an unacceptable infringement on the religious freedom of faith groups and same-sex couples of faith.
Many faith groups already want to conduct same-sex marriages, for instance, the Humanists, Unitarians, Quakers, Liberal Jews, Buddhists, Metropolitan Community Church, and the Pagans. It is wrong that the wishes of these faith groups are ignored, and that same-sex couples are prevented from including their faith in a formal partnership ceremony.
Solution: Change the law to allow religious bodies to conduct same-sex marriages and civil partnerships. Allow an opt-out for those faith groups that do not wish to conduct same-sex marriages.
- End the discrimination against transgender people
As the law stands a transgender person cannot obtain a full Gender Recognition certificate if they are married or in a civil partnership. Under the terms of the Gender Recognition Act 2004 transgender people are forced to get divorced or dissolve their civil partnership if they wish to attain legal recognition of their true gender.
Solution: Change the law so that transgender people do not have to divorce or dissolve their Civil Partnership in order to obtain a full Gender Recognition.
