News Release
Civil Partnerships ruling an ‘attack on marriage’, says The Christian Institute
Today the UK Supreme Court has ruled in favour of extending civil partnerships to heterosexual couples.
The court accepted Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan’s claim that the Government’s position on civil partnerships was incompatible with human rights.
Ciarán Kelly, Deputy Director (Staff and Communications) for The Christian Institute, expressed his disappointment at the ruling:
“This is yet another fundamental attack on marriage from a court system that seems determined to do all it can to undermine it.
“The couple who brought this case objected to what they called the “sexist trappings” of marriage. But that is to fundamentally misrepresent what marriage is about.
“Marriage – with its public promises of life long faithfulness – is the gold standard of commitment. It is beneficial for the individuals involved and for society as a whole. With this ruling the court has given its backing to ‘marriage lite’ – all the benefits of marriage but without the responsibilities.
“Time would have been better spent resolving the genuine injustice suffered by huge numbers of other house-sharers who are excluded from civil partnerships and can get hit with an enormous inheritance tax bill.
“A daughter living with her elderly mother, a grandson living with his infirm grandfather, a friend who looks after a disabled person on a long-term basis – these are the injustices that ought to be addressed.”
Notes for editors
In the UK, civil partnerships have been available exclusively to same-sex couples since 2004, granting them all the legal rights of married couples.
In 2014, same-sex marriage was legalised in England, Scotland and Wales, meaning homosexuals had the choice of either marriage or a civil partnership.
A consultation, also in 2014, revealed that over three quarters of 10,000 respondents disagreed with heterosexual civil partnerships.