Civil partnership challenge

An opposite-sex couple is filing an application for a civil partnership at London’s Islington Registry Office.

Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle say the denial of civil partnerships to heterosexual couples is “discriminatory and perpetuates legal inequality”.

They have been backed by human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. Freeman says: “We think the ‘separate but equal’ system which segregates couples according to their sexuality is not equal at all.“