UK Couple Wins Court Ruling in Fight for Civil Partnership

[sandensea]

Britain's Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the ban on civil partnerships for heterosexual couples is "incompatible" with human rights laws — a decision supporters hope will pave the way for such unions.

Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41, who say they wanted to avoid the "patriarchal baggage" of marriage, argued that they face discrimination because only same-sex couples are eligible for civil partnerships.

Britain's government has argued it needs time to study the impact of gay marriage on civil partnerships before deciding whether to extend them to everyone, abolish them or phase them out.

Gay couples in Britain have been able to form civil partnerships since 2005, giving them the same legal protection, adoption and inheritance rights as heterosexual married partners. Same-sex marriage became legal in 2014.

At: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-06-27/uk-couple-wins-court-ruling-in-fight-for-civil-partnership

A bachelor's life for them: Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, who object to the institution of marriage, celebrate today's ruling.

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Seems fairly pointless to me - I don't see their feelings about "patriarchal baggage"

as a human rights issue. Having heterosexual civil partnerships might as well happen, since it doesn't inconvenience anyone, but I think the language of human rights is cheapened slightly by this argument. That, of course, is just my feeling too, but I won't be going to court about it.