catman
Joined: 18 Jul 2004
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 Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:15 am Post subject: Britain - First Legal Same Sex Marriages Performed |
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Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in England and Wales was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in July 2013 and came into force on 13 March 2014, with the first same-sex marriages taking place on 29 March 2014.
Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland was passed by the Scottish Parliament in February 2014 and received Royal Assent on 12 March 2014. The first same-sex marriages are expected to occur in Autumn 2014.
Previously same sex couples had a status short of marriage. In 2004 the Civil Partnership Act was passed and came into effect in December 2005. It created civil partnerships, which gave same-sex couples who entered into them the same rights and responsibilities of marriage.
Section 9 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 grants anyone who is registered in a civil partnership the ability to convert that partnership into a marriage.
Gay couples in Britain waited decades for the right to get married. When the opportunity came, it took just a few minutes to make history.
Londoners Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway were among the first to tie the knot when Britain’s new marriage law came into effect Saturday.
The two men married in front of about 100 guests at their local town hall in the London borough of Camden — one of several locales holding late-night ceremonies to mark the occasion. By 10 minutes past midnight they were married, with a kiss and a registrar’s declaration: “You are now husband and husband.”
It’s a sign of a profound shift in attitudes in a country that little more than a decade ago had a law on the books banning the “promotion” of homosexuality.
“Some people say, ‘You gays are trying to redefine marriage,’ but the definition of marriage has already changed,” said Treadway, a 20-year-old student originally from Los Angeles. “Now it’s between two people who love each other.”
Most Britons agree. Polls show about two-thirds of people in the country back gay unions, and support is highest among the young. Britain has seen none of the large street protests against gay marriage that have taken place in France.
Same-sex marriage has been welcomed with enthusiasm by Britain’s Conservative-led government. Rainbow flags went up over two government buildings Friday in what Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called “a small symbol to celebrate a massive achievement.”
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So even a possible independent Scotland will still allow same sex marriage. |
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