Sex & Relationships  :: Gay Weddings :: (885 Reads)

Posted by gayteens on Wednesday, September 03, 2008 - 03:24 PM

This subject has been covered extensively over the years mainly from the USA. We take a brief look at the implications from a UK perspective. Gay weddings or cival partnerships receive a lot of press coverage and we have been monitoring over the years the USA angle on things.
In 2005 Gay weddings became law in the UK.



Hundreds of gay couples were prepared to form civil partnerships that year.
At least 1,200 ceremonies were conducted in the first year according to figures from councils.
Registrars opening their first ceremonies in December 2005
Campaigners said the law ends inequalities for same-sex couples.
The first ceremonies under the Civil Partnerships Act took place in Northern Ireland on 19 December, followed by Scotland the next day and England and Wales on 21 December.
Under the law, couples who want to form a partnership must register their intentions with local councils. Unlike marriages, the signing of the legal partnership papers does not need to happen in public.
Bookings coming in
Hundreds of couples took part in weddngs, with Brighton conducting 198 ceremonies before the end of the year. Overall, the city has taken 510 bookings for the coming months, thought to be the highest in the country.
Other cities which have seen strong interest include London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

PROVISIONAL BOOKINGS
Brighton and Hove: 510
Westminster: 140
Manchester: 88
Newcastle: 80
Birmingham: 70
Leeds: 60
Edinburgh: 76
Sheffield: 58
Nottingham: 50
Glasgow: 30
Cardiff: 24
Belfast: 20
Liverpool 20
Londonderry: 6
Aberdeen: 5

Source: Councils; not all ceremonies booked for December
Meg Munn, minister for equality, said the government expected 4,500 couples to get "partnered" in the first year.
"This is an important piece of legislation that gives legal recognition to relationships which until now were invisible in the eyes of the law," "It accords people in same-sex relationships the same sort of rights and responsibilities that are available to married couples.
"We know there are people who have been together maybe 40 years and have been waiting for the chance to do this kind of thing, because of the important differences it makes to their lives.
"They have the same concerns as married couples - tenancy, ownership, pensions and inheritance."



Alan Wardle, of gay campaign group Stonewall, said the importance of the change should not be underestimated.
"Our view is that civil partnerships are transformative for the lives of individual couples and their rights, but also for society more generally.
"Society now legally recognises gay relationships for the first time.
But a spokesman for the one of the UK's major Christian groups told the GTR they believed same-sex couples should not get the same rights as married couples.
"If you transport something unique, like marriage, into a different context, there's always a cost. And the cost here is in terms of reduction of marriage and the undermining of it," Don Horrocks of the Evangelical Alliance said.
Reticent councils
Retailers are already beginning to cash in on the new partnerships.


A range of "Mr and Mr" and "Mrs and Mrs" cards will hit Asda supermarkets.
And sets of "Darling, Dearest, Queerest" embroidered towel and soaps went on sale at Superdrug stores.
Meanwhile, three short advertisements were published in the Births, Marriages and Deaths columns under the heading Civil partnerships in Monday's Times newspaper.
The heading is a new addition to the paper, which has carried family announcements for nearly 221 years.
Campaigners have focused on councils which have been equivocal about the new law.
Bromley in south-east London had initially planned not to offer public ceremonies. Lisburn in Northern Ireland also overturned a proposed ban.
Ms Munn said any councils dragging their feet needed to comply with the both the spirit and letter of the law.
"The legislation requires that every authority must offer a civil partnership. The basic level of that is a simple signing of a register - some couples may just want that alone.
The first gay divorce
Last updated at 23:12 07 December 2006
• Comments (19)
• Add to My Stories

Daryl Bullock (right) and Mark Godfrey, outside the Guildhall in Bath where they got married last December
One of the first same-sex couples to tie the knot have separated and will make British legal history when they divorce.
Darryl Bullock, 42, and Mark Godfrey, 32, were one of the first to wed when new 'gay marriage' laws came in last year.
But Darryl has revealed the relationship had faded and the pair intend to annul their marriage as soon as is legally possible after December 21.
Darryl said: "We were really proud to be one of the first couples to have the service and we had a great six months but then things went wrong.
"I suppose we were part of history and I have got lots of press cuttings from that day but we didn't do it to make the news or just to be first.
"We were completely committed but things change in any relationship. We are lucky that there is no property or kids involved but we have both moved on now in our own way."
The couple were among the first in the UK to make legal history when they took part in a civil partnership ceremony on December 21 last year.
They exchanged vows at The Guildhall in Bath, Somerset, at 8am, beating Elton John and David Furnish's ceremony in the Guildhall in Windsor by three hours.
But while Elton and David sipped pink champagne with over 700 guests at their reception, Darryl and Mark were tucking into an English breakfast with 20 friends at their local pub.
The pair chose Marks and Spencer over Versace for their wedding gear and spent their honeymoon in the less-than-exotic resort of Torquay in Devon.
And while Elton is reported to have splashed out £1million on his big day, Mark and Darryl spent a more humble £700.
However, freelance writer Darryl and Mark's three-year relationship faded as they grew apart and Darryl has now taken legal advice about ending the partnership.
Healthcare assistant Mark has since moved out of the plush flat the couple shared in Bristol.
However, under the laws brought in last year, the ex-lovers cannot formally apply for a 'divorce' until one full year after the 'wedding'.
Their civil partnership is likely to be dissolved through the county court in a process that will begin on December 21.
Darryl refused to give the grounds for the dissolution of their relationship because he said it would form part of the proceedings.
He said: "It's in the lawyers' hands. I've spoken to my solicitor who will take whatever action he thinks is fit on or after December 21.
"It could end up being one of the first dissolutions but it's not my intention to jump the gun to be the first."
He added: "My experience hasn't put me off. If I meet the right person at some point in the future I'll give it a go again.
"I can't think there'll be a vast rush of gay and lesbian couples rushing to dissolve their partnerships on December 21. Most couples I know are blissfully happy.
"It's just like heterosexual couples. Some people have their problems and some don't get over them."
In marriage, divorce proceedings first grant a conditional cancellation, or decree nisi, before later formally ending the marriage with a decree absolu.
In civil partnerships, couples dissolve their partnership rather than divorce, and the first stage is to be described as a conditional order, followed by a final order.
Unlike marriage, however, adultery is not grounds for dissolution - because the law only recognises adultery as sex between a man and a woman.
Divorce lawyer Mark Harper, of London law firm Withers, said that, otherwise, the dissolution of a partnership was almost exactly the same as any other divorce.
He said: "The court would look at the assets that existed at the start of the relationship.
"The presumption would be that assets built up during the course of a relationship would be equally divided even if one partner earned much more than the other."
In May, a lesbian couple who wanted to annul their civil partnership after accusations of cheating were told by their lawyer they would have to wait until a year had passed.
Insurance broker Liz King, 40, and Eurostar worker Daphne Ligthard, 36, registered their civil partnership in Ashford, Kent, on Feb 11 before sharing a honeymoon in Amsterdam.

In May 2008 two vicors got married in an Anglican church
THE first gay 'marriage' held in an Anglican church has reignited controversy over homosexual clergy and same sex civil partnerships.
Reverend Peter Cowell and the Rev Dr David Lord exchanged vows at St Bartholomew the Great in the City of London.



In th USA has seen a very different picture.
In 1996, the United States Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman amongst other stipulations. As of May 2007, twenty-six states have passed constitutional amendments explicitly barring the recognition of same-sex marriage, eighteen of which prohibit the legal recognition of any same-sex union. Nineteen additional states have legal statutes that define "marriage" as a union of two persons of the opposite-sex. The territory of Puerto Rico ratified a similar statute in 1998. Nonetheless, some states are beginning to offer legal recognition to same-sex couples, whether in the form of marriage or as civil unions or domestic partnerships.

As of July 8, 2008, Massachusetts and California permit same-sex couples to marry. The states of Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey and New Hampshire offer civil unions. Also, California and Oregon have domestic partnership laws that grant all of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Maine, Washington, and the District of Columbia grant certain limited benefits through domestic partnerships, and Hawaii has reciprocal beneficiary laws.

The eastern and western states appear to be in favour as the central states do not recognise same sex marriage at all. It is assumed that in time more states will change their position.