• Background Image

    Latest News

    Latest News

October 5, 2015

We need your help!

Dear Supporter,

 

We are writing to ask for your help. A Private Member’s Bill has been tabled for 21 October, calling for a very simple amendment to the Civil Partnership Act: simply to remove the clause that limits civil partnerships to same-sex couples. This would have the same outcome as Charles and Rebecca are seeking with their judicial review, giving opposite-sex couples the right to civil partnerships, promoting equality, and ending this strange anomaly in the law.

 

The Bill needs cross-party support – and this is where you come in. We need you to speak to your MP: if you can, go and see them in their constituency surgery, or email or write to them, telling them why making civil partnerships equal is important to you. We really need you to convince them why this is an important issue for you, as their constituent, and why they therefore need to sign up to the Bill and support it on 21 October.

 

We have created a template letter (which you can send for free here), but the more you can personalise it the better. We’ve also created a one page resource sheet, here, which contains all of the facts and figures you might want to use if you can go and speak to your MP face-to-face. You can find out who your MP is and how to contact them simply by typing your postcode here.

 

We’ll be at the House of Commons on the 21st of October (the Bill will receive its hearing at some point between 12.30-3.30pm), and you are really welcome to join us as we watch the Bill unfold – we’d love to meet you. Just drop us an email at hello@equalcivilpartnerships.org.uk so we know how much tea and cake to get in!

 

Many thanks,

 

The ECP team x

 

PS – it would be really helpful if you could let us know if you contact your MP, who they are, and how they respond. And if you want any help or further information, just drop us an email at hello@equalcivilpartnerships.org.uk. Thanks! x

 

October 2, 2015

The Herald – Different-sex couples should also be eligible for civil partnerships

“Everyone in Scotland who would like to be able to choose between a marriage and a civil partnership, should respond to the Scottish Government’s “Review of civil partnership”, launched on 22 September.  The consultation gives us all an opportunity to persuade the Scottish Government to change its mind about opposing different-sex civil partnerships; recognising that the existing law discriminates directly on the basis of sexual orientation (contrary to the Human Rights Act 1998).  It is a simple matter of equality to extend civil partnership to different-sex couples.

A lot of public money was spent on setting up civil partnership.  It would be wasteful to abolish a public institution, which some same-sex couples would like to retain, and which a significant minority of different-sex couples would like to join.  These different-sex couples do not wish to marry.  As long as they are excluded from civil partnership, they and their children may suffer from their not having a registered relationship.

The cost of extension should be minimal, because all of the necessary procedures already exist.  Any increase in survivor’s pension benefits would be the same as if the newly civilly partnered couples had chosen to marry.

A campaign calling for equal civil partnerships is underway in England and Wales: a Private Member’s Bill will be debated in the House of Commons on 21 October, and a judicial review under the Human Rights Act will be heard by the High Court in January (equalcivilpartnerships.org.uk). We, the steering group and supporters of the campaign for equal civil partnerships, based on both sides of the border, want to see all couples in the UK afforded the same rights to civil partnerships – regardless of sex, sexuality, or location, and need support from across the UK to make that a reality.

In addition to responding to the consultation, explaining why equal civil partnerships are important to you personally, as many people as possible should contact their MSPs and MPs and ask them to end this bizarre anomaly of two choices for same-sex couples, one for different-sex couples.  In every other equal marriage country in Europe, all couples have the same choices.”

 

Lee Chalmers, Director, The Parliament Project and Feminist Researcher

Charles Keidan

Martin Loat, CEO, Propeller PR

Fiona Millar, Journalist and Education Campaigner

Dr. Rebecca Steinfeld, Political Scientist and BBC New Generation Thinker

Peter Tatchell, Human Rights Campaigner

Robert Wintemute, Professor of Human Rights Law, King’s College London

Shelagh Young, Chair, The Phone Co-Op

 

September 4, 2015

Judicial Review date announced

We are really pleased to be able to tell you that the High Court have decided on a date for Charles and Rebecca’s Judicial Review – it’s going to take place on 19 and 20 January 2016. The Court has allocated two full days and a senior judge to the case, and the hearing is open to the public – so put it in your diaries and come and witness some history in the making (fingers crossed)!

In addition to supporting Charles and Rebecca’s legal team build their case, we have also been busy working on the inside with key decision makers who have the power to make the change we are seeking. A Ten Minute Rule Bill has been tabled for 21 October 2015 by Tim Loughton MP, calling for a very simple amendment to the Civil Partnership Act – solely to remove the sentence that limits civil partnerships to same-sex couples – and we are having meetings with a number of supportive MPs from across the parties to rally behind the Bill. As we get closer to 21 October, we’ll be asking all of our supporters to write to and Tweet your MPs to ask them to attend and support the Bill, so make sure you’re following us on Twitter and Facebook to stay in the loop.

If you haven’t yet, please don’t forget to share Charles and Rebecca’s change.org petition with your friends and family – it only takes a minute and the more signatures we get the easier it is for us to convince MPs that this is an issue they need to get behind…

The ECP Team x

August 6, 2015

The Sunday Times – Marriage of Equals

23 July 2015

We were really pleased to read ‘Unmarried couples: it’s make your mind up time, before a law does it for you.’ As the steering group of the campaign for Equal Civil Partnerships, we are all too aware of the pitfalls that cohabitating couples can face, and like Jenny McCartney, we see absolutely no reason why heterosexual couples should be denied civil partnerships. That’s why we’re calling on the government to extend the right to civil partnerships to all couples, regardless of sex or sexual orientation. A Private Members Bill calling for an amendment to the current legislation (which prohibits opposite-sex couples from accessing civil partnerships) is scheduled for 21 October, and a Judicial Review will also be taking place this autumn.

While Baron Marks of Henley-on-Thames’s Cohabitation Bill would give long-term co-habiting couples a number of limited rights automatically, civil partnerships would offer (for those couples who want it) a modern social institution conferring almost identical legal rights as marriage, but without its historical baggage, often out-dated gender roles and social expectations.

Simply extending the right to civil partnerships to all couples would give many families, including some of ours, greater security and stability and put an end to this strange anomaly in the law which is currently undermining equality in the UK.

 

Charles Keidan

Martin Loat

Fiona Millar

Gemma Mortensen

Dr. Rebecca Steinfeld

Peter Tatchell

Professor Robert Wintemute

July 30, 2015

The Equality Network advocate for equal civil partnerships

The Equality Network’s new Scottish LGBT Equality Report recommends “the Scottish Government should resolve outstanding partnership equality issues including the ban on mixed-sex civil partnership and the need to allow couples in non-Scottish civil partnerships to convert their civil partnership to marriage if they wish to do so.” We couldn’t agree more!

We’re thrilled the Equality Network supports equal civil partnerships – see here for more information about why they believe civil partnerships should be open to all, and check out the full report for the most comprehensive research to date into LGBT people’s experiences of inequality in Scotland.

 

June 25, 2015

Write to your MP!

We’re calling on the government to extend the right of civil partnerships to all couples, regardless of sex or sexuality. Currently under UK law all couples have the right to marry, however only same-sex couples are able to form civil partnerships.

A judicial review is set to take place later this year, as it is evident that this inequality undermines the core principle of democracy that all people should be treated equally before the law.

Write to your MP to ask them to fight for equal civil partnerships, to improve equality in the UK without wasting tax payers’ money fighting this legal case. The first fifty letters are paid for, so do it today and it won’t cost you a penny!

May 11, 2015

The Equal Civil Partnerships website has launched!

 

We are really pleased to launch our website, and we hope you like it! Have a look around to find out more about our brand new campaign, Rebecca and Charles’ legal challenge, check out our fantastic supporters, and find out how you can get involved too. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook and sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date as the campaign develops.

Love,

The ECP team x

 

Image: The keyboard (#18/365) by Mr Seb on Flickr