Lesbian Marriage
Two women are appealing to the High Court for the right of their marriage in Canada to be recognised in the UK as marriage as opposed to being recognised as a Civil Partnership. I fully support this claim as it seems to be that the UK is willing to recognise any number of ‘marriages’ between men and women who tie the knot in Las Vegas having known each other for minutes or hours. Japanese wedding ceremonies are different than those in the Uk but this does not stop them being recognised here. If a marriage is recognised in Canada it should have the same status and recognition here.
For my own part I am happy to call my Civil Partnership with Caroline a Civil partnership. We are to all intents and purposes married in that we have a legal commitment recognised and acknowledged by the State which we cannot dissolve without State sanction. Our civil partnership was what was available to us at the time, had we been in Canada we might have been eligible and even chosen to marry. But Sue and She did marry under Canadian law and now have the right to have that relationship honoured by the UK which recognises Canadian law.
It seems to be argued that this case will open the floodgates to same sex couple demanding marriage here. Many conservatives within the Christian denominations seem to object on the grounds that if we as lesbians or gay men live in committed and faithful relationship this will somehow damage or demean ‘their’ marriages. I am not quite sure how this is supposed to work, given that many heterosexual people have not outlawed marriages which are casual and lightly entered into between men and women, but condemn committed and loving and often life long relations between two women or two men.
What is at stake in this case is not a great deal of principle but a great deal of humbug. Either society welcomes and cherishes committed and loving relationships or it does not. In the case of the bigots a relations is OK as long as it is between a man and a woman, however transient, hateful or hurtful it may be.
Linda Bellos
1 Comments:
Hi Linda
I was interested to read your blog about Lesbian Marriage and, having recently formed a civil partner with my boyfriend, I would like to share with you my thoughts about religious objections to "Marriage" in its truest sense. You said that you are not sure how gay marriage would demean heterosexual marriage. I have the belief that much of these objections, not only to gay marriage, but to gay rights generally, are mostly about power. I've often believed that conservative strands of religion have little to do with spirituality, or even morality, but control of others. As gay and lesbian people have come forward to participate in the wider community, so there has been (or appears to have been) a resurgence in religious fundamentalism, be it Christian, Islamic of Jewish, or any other religion. I don't think the fight for equality is anywhere nearly over with, as there are truly unpleasant forces wishing to turn the clock back.
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