uk same-sex civil partner ships

[whirlygirl]

only in Britain??? can same-sex couples are able have a civil unionship and receive rights, heterosexual people should be married to acquire those rights....

http://www.channel4.com/news/2003/06/week_4/30_gay.html

the government here in the UK is backward at going forward. :twisted:


beth

2013 Mod Edit: The above link doesn't work anymore, but its content can be found here. For future reference:

Rights for gay couples

Civil rights


Published: 30-June-2003
By: Bridgid Nzekwu


Take away the ceremony and the ring, and its not much different to marriage.

The new civil partnerships for gay and lesbian couples give them all sorts of rights and responsibilities similar to those of husband and wife.



Soon only co-habiting heterosexual couples will be left without legal rights.



It's an idea that was pioneered by mayor of London, Ken Livingston. He was a guest at a registration ceremony at the Greater London Authority in September 2001. At the time Linda and Carol had been together for 16 years - but this civil ceremony did not make them entitled to any legal rights that married couples enjoy.



Under the government's new proposals that will change.



Gay and lesbian couples in England and Wales will for the first time ever be recognised as legal partners - as long as they sign to it at a register office.



They will then, like married couples be granted pension rights and have access to joint state benefits.



They'll also gain property rights, and will be exempt from inheritance tax. Next of kin rights will include being able to register the death of a partner, to receive compensation for fatal accidents and the ability to gain parental responsibility for each other's children.



Nine European countries already officially recognise same-sex partnerships. In 2001 gay marriage became legal in the Netherlands. And in 1996 a judge in Hawaii ruled that it was discriminatory to prevent same sex marriages.



The new rights that will be given to registered gay couples have been welcomed by those who've campaigned for years for equality. But there are those who argue that the law should also be updated in relation to unmarried heterosexual couples.



The government response is that until now gay and lesbian couples have not had the option to be legally recognised, in the way straight couples can through marriage. For many the new rights proposed today mark the moment when same-sex relationships truly gained equal status.

YOUR EMAILS



"My GP partner of 16 years and I have two children a house in joint names, joint mortgages, and joint bank accounts. She is the significant breadwinner. If she dies I recieve nothing, as the NHS pension scheme in common with all public sevice schemes doesn't recognise me. New Labour MP's voted some years ago to ammend their own pension scheme to benefit long term hetrosexual cohabitees. Now gay couples are set to benefit. Hurray to that, but what about the rest of us hetrosexual cohabitees?"

Simon Applegate



"There is no such thing as "common law" when it comes to cohabiting couples - gay or straight. The key difference is that when straight couples choose not to marry, they are making the choice not to accept all the rights and responsibilities that go with wedlock. Gay couples simply do not have that option at the moment. The Civil Partnerships proposals are solely concerned with redressing that balance. The concerns of straight unmarried people are not irrelevant -- but they're arguing for something completely different and completely new. It's something that should be addressed in time, but should never derail the opportunity we've got here."

Scott Matthewman, Editor, The Gay Vote



"Come on, the disgustingly normal majority who don't feel the need for a religious marriage ceremony. Don't claim rights you neither need nor actually want, but instead FIGHT for your inalienable right to enjoy the opposite sex when and with whomsoever you want. This, after all, is what has so far prevented you from formally marrying, isn't it?"

Andrew Waldron



"Under the proposals if same sex couples want to benefit from pension and property rights etc they must sign a contract in a civil ceremony, if they just co-habit they don't. If hetrosexual couples want to benefit from pension and property rights etc they must sign a contract (its called marriage) and it can be a civil or religious ceremony, again if they just co-habit they don't. Therefore I personally don't see why hetrosexual couples need 2 alternatives which achieve the same thing and a common law husband and wife will still have more protection under the law than common law same sex couples!!!"

Edward Budden





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