Why Are Straight Couples Not Allowed The Same Options As Gay And Lesbian Couples?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/peter-g-tatchell/civil-partnerships_b_5536994.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

/// Since the legalisation of same-sex civil marriage, for the first time in British history, gay and lesbian couples have a legal advantage over straight ones. Same-sex couples have two options: civil marriage and civil partnership. In contrast, opposite-sex couples have only one option: marriage. This is profoundly unjust and unfair. ///

[ummmm]

What if a couple don't want children? Should they not get married?

[douglas9401]

David Cameron speaks with forked tongue.
This goes a long way to explaining how he landed a babe like Samantha.

[boxtops]

No Ed - absolutely not. There is no mention of religion in the register office. It's a completely civil ceremony, missing out all religious undertakings.

Marriages in other religious places (Catholic churches, mosques, temples) likewise have nothing at all to do with the CofE.

It's the law of the land which has to be complied with, which is why there's a Register to be signed in a church ceremony - not the other way round.

I don't know why you thought that they did.

[EcclesCake]

AYG, I'm not sure I am following your train of thought. I am married to a man and had no intention of having children, should I have not bothered marrying?

[jackthehat]

Would you be satisfied with a CP, AYG?

I suspect not..........and neither am I.

[boxtops]

AYG, ummm - exactly, OH and I are well past child-bearing, we wanted to get married rather than just living together.

[askyourgran]

A lot of couples just get married to seal their love. If they can't have or dont want children it is up to them, but the tradition is the marriage ceremony either a Church/Register office wedding is what is expected. Nowadays it seems that they don't bother with the marriage at all, just get on with having children, I recently went to a wedding where the 4 year old was the bridesmaid!

[ummmm]

I have three kids and I've never been married.

[ummmm]

//A lot of couples just get married to seal their love//

I'm sure it's the same for gay couples.

[EcclesCake]

Sorry but I still cannot get my head around you train of thought AYG.

Some couples 'just' get married to seal their love. What do you mean by this?

I didn't get married just to get a new toaster and a set of towels. It was to make a public declaration of my love and commitment to my husband.....to seal our love before witnesses.

[ummmm]

AYG just sounds like someone who doesn't think gay people are equal, which was the whole point in fighting for gay marriage.

[askyourgran]

I am sure they do love one another, and have the same feelings that hetero couples do. I have friends who have been together for over 25years and accept that they are happy as they are without apeing married couples. I cannot see why they need the same strictures apart from tax and inheritance issues. As uuuum has neatly put it why get married, you can have kids anyway. I got married to give my children a legal footing, but obviously todays couples aren't that fussed about marriage anyway.

[EcclesCake]

You're not far out Colin....I think when we got married enormous bistro bowls were the thing.....too friggin' big to fit in the dishwasher though :-(

CP/Marriage, I think all should be able to make their choice, gay, straight or Vulcan.

[Mamyalynne]

Eccles has it spot on - 'all' options should be available to 'all', that is the only road that leads to equality.

[woofgang]

I agree with Mamya. Setting aside the gay/straight element. I do think that the option to legally register a partnership for things like tax and inheritance purposes should be available to any two adults including parent/child, siblings and friends.

[sp1814]

I think a better solution would be to do away with civil partnerships (but there's a big problem with that...will get to that at the end of this)

They were brought about to give gay relationships a legal footing, and let's be honest - in the years that CPs have been enshrined in law, how many straight couples have demanded that they want to enter a CP, rather than get married?

There are a couple of major flaws with CPs too, which make them less attractive than traditional marriages to a significant number of gay people.

However, simply abolishing CPs would be extremely difficult. That's because not everyone who is currently in a CP actually wants to convert to a marriage.

So, ultimately it appears that some future government will have to open CPs to straight couples.

I'm not sure what the arguments against this are.

[jno]

sp1814, my guess is that of the people demanding the right for straights to have CPs, approximately 0.000000003% will actually sign up to one when they're made legal.