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Can we make civil partnership work?

Written by Holly Birkett
Tuesday, 22 December 2009 00:00

Four years ago this week, Grainne Close and Shannon Sickles became the first same-sex couple in Great Britain to form a civil partnership, on December 19th 2005.

Their union was made possible by the 2004 Civil Partnership Act, implemented to give gay couples the same rights and legal recognition as their straight, married counterparts. But, says human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, “Civil partnerships are not equality.”

So, four years on, is civil partnership working out?

It was undoubtedly a step in the right direction for gay couples. Not only do civil partnerships grant homosexual couples legal rights, but, more widely, they celebrate gay relationships and validate them in the eyes of society. However, even after four years, there are still plenty of legislative inequalities to iron out.

“There is no equal inheritance of pension rights for surviving civil partners, especially in the case of many private pension schemes,” says Mr Tatchell, of LGBT pressure group OutRage!

“Equal compensation rights do not exist for the civil partners of police and fire officers who die in the line of duty. Plus, civil partnerships are not recognised abroad. Civil partners who go on holiday or relocate overseas have no legal recognition.”

Last month, Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle had hoped to be the first straight couple to form a civil partnership in Britain, but their application was rejected.

“We felt a traditional wedding was not appropriate for us because we did not want to participate in what we regard as a system of segregation, with one law for straight couples, and another completely separate one for gay couples,” says Mr Freeman.

“Seeking a civil partnership was, for us, the first step along the road towards – one day – being able to commit to each other in a ceremony that does not espouse division.”

They were turned away from Islington registry office on November 24th, and informed in writing they were ineligible for a civil partnership, on the grounds that “Part one of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 states that a civil partnership is a relationship between two people of the same sex.”
The couple’s case is emblematic of the sexual segregation enforced in UK law. Gay couples are banned from marriage, and straight couples are banned from civil partnership – one system for heterosexuals and another for homosexual citizens, with no explanation as to why this discrimination is warranted. Surely, this cannot be called equality?

“The fact that while we are assured that civil partnerships represent equality because the outcome is ‘just the same’ as that of marriage, and yet we continue to have two separate institutions, inevitably suggests that they are in some important respect not quite as worthy of respect as marriage – not ‘proper’ marriage,” Freeman says.

“If they are just the same, why have two? This just enables and helps people to draw a line between ‘gay’ and ‘straight’.  If you take away that line on an institutional and symbolic level, you are attacking the roots of prejudice and denying a foothold to those who would seek to keep gay relationships held at arm’s length.”

So why not open up both institutions to all – or, better still, have one institution that all have equal access to?

Annoyingly, opening up civil marriage to gay couples could have been so easy. It was only in 1973, in the Matrimonial Causes Act, that it was stipulated that marriage partners must be male and female. The Government could have simply repealed these gender rules. Quick, easy, democratic – it would have been the fast-track to equality for straight and gay married couples.

Having one marriage institution accessible to all sexualities would enhance the societal importance of stable relationships, break down sexual prejudice and promote social cohesion. But it is not only loving, sexual relationships that are beneficial to partners – lifelong friendships, for instance, are too.
Peter Tatchell proposes a Civil Commitment Pact, enabling anyone to nominate a ‘significant other’ and beneficiary, with whom they share a relationship as mutually supportive and caring as a marriage, but who might be a close friend, carer, or partner to whom they are not married.

A Civil Commitment Pact would shift the foundation of partnership from love and sexual consummation to loyalty, commitment and mutual care, offering a “democratic, flexible alternative to marriage and civil partnerships,” which would “benefit everyone without discrimination,” according to the proposal.
It would also enable partners to formulate their own unique partnership agreement. Seeing as every relationship of commitment might be different, partners would be able to tailor a Pact to meet the rights and responsibilities they require.

“This point-by-point negotiation would force partners to examine their relationship more closely, and to think through in greater detail the implications of entering a partnership agreement,” the proposal states. “It might lead to a sounder, more enduring commitment.”

The next step for Tom and Katherine, however, will be to take their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). They are currently on the lookout for a gay couple who have been refused a civil marriage, with whom they could make a joint case against straight couples’ exclusion from civil partnership, and gay couples’ exclusion from civil marriage.

The initial outlook is good: ECHR jurisprudence suggests both bans could be ruled as illegal, because the difference in treatment does not have an “objective and reasonable justification” or a “legitimate aim”.

If Tom and Katherine win their case, it would force a change in the law, allowing heterosexual civil partnerships and, likewise, homosexual marriage – at last.

It seems civil partnership has come a long way in four years. Equality, however, is still waiting for the Government to come up with a stronger, more long-lasting commitment.

If you believe in marriage equality, sign the petition at: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Gay-Marriage/