British Ministers To Announce Proposed Changes To Law Allowing Gay And Lesbian Couples To Marry In Traditional Religious Ceremonies Including Church Services

The Sunday Telegraph is reporting that Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat equalities minister, is expected to publish outline firm plans to lift the current ban on civil partnerships being conducted in places of worship. There are no plans to compel religious organizations to hold ceremonies and the Church of England has said it would not permit its churches to be used. Currently, civil partnerships ceremonies, introduced in 2005, have to remain entirely secular and cannot contain any religious, even though civil partners have almost exactly the same legal rights as married spouses. Last year, an amendment was added to the former Labour government’s Equalities Act that would allow civil partnership ceremonies to be held in places of worship if religious groups permitted this. However, before the process could become completely legal, ministers would be required to stage a separate consultation and pass separate legislation, which is the process Featherstone is to begin. It is not clear whether the newly revised civil partnerships consecrated in places of worship would be officially called marriage under the new law. Prior to last year’s general election, Theresa May, the current Home Secretary, who was then shadow equalities minister, launched a Tory “equalities manifesto” which said that party would, in government, “consider the case for changing the law to allow civil partnerships to be called and classified as marriage.”