Prime Minister David Cameron has confirmed his support for same-sex marriage by 2015 in a major speech.
In his closing address to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on 5 October, Mr Cameron said: “I once stood before a Conservative conference and said it shouldn’t matter whether commitment was between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man. Five years on, we’re consulting on legalising gay marriage.
“And to anyone who has reservations, I say: Yes, it’s about equality, but it’s also about something else: commitment… that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other.”
Mr Cameron’s comments came after Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone told the Liberal Democrat Party conference in September that the government was committed to changing the law in England and Wales to allow same-sex marriage by 2015, with a consultation on the issue due to be launched next year. She told the conference that current law was “simply not fair”.
Ben Summerskill, chief executive of lesbian, gay and bisexual charity Stonewall, welcomed Mr Cameron’s comments, adding: “We look forward to the government now implementing this commitment within the lifetime of this parliament, as promised.”
Mr Cameron’s comments came days after the Office for National Statistics published a report by Helen Ross, Karen Gask and Ann Berrington of the University of Southampton on the first five years of civil partnerships for same-sex couples, which were introduced in England and Wales in December 2005.
Key findings of the report included a year on year increase in civil partnership 0dissolutions since 2007 but early figures suggested marriages were more likely to end in divorce than civil partnerships are to end in dissolution. Researchers said that this might be distorted by a high proportion of civil partnerships being formed initially to couples who had already been together a significant length of time.
Sally Orme, associate in Gregg Latchams Family department with particular expertise in the dissolution of civil partnership, said: “Civil partners have almost exactly the same legal rights as married partners, and same-sex marriage will not represent a major shift in family law as the same legal issues apply now to all couples entering into marriage or civil partnerships.“
“ Couples may wish to consider seeking advice to put in place a pre-partnership or pre-marriage agreement to decide what they intend should happen to their property and other assets if the relationship ends”
For more information, please contact the Family department.
