A legal bid to allow straight couples to have civil partnerships will be heard at the Court of Appeal this week.
Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan argue that civil partnerships are a symmetrical, modern social institution conferring almost identical legal rights and responsibilities as marriage, but without its historical baggage, gendered provisions and social expectations. We don’t think there is any justification for stopping us or other opposite-sex couples from forming civil partnerships.”
They are seeking an amendment in Parliament to the Civil Partnership Act so that it includes opposite-sex couples, providing “a legal and financial safety net for couples who don’t want to get married and, if they have any, for their children”.
The government said at a previous court hearing that it is considering scrapping civil partnerships altogether.
Opposite-sex couples can enter a civil partnership in the Isle of Man, a Crown dependency, which passed a law allowing this earlier in the year.
