Gay couples to gain legal rights
The Government is planning to recognise legal partnerships for homosexual couples in response to concerns over inequality.
Not only do gay rights groups consider their ineligibility for marriage a straightforward case of inequality, but recent events have highlighted practical implications as well.
Gay couples are denied the opportunity to marry, which means their relationships have no legal recognition. This can mean that some hospitals deny visitation rights to partners of the same sex.
Perhaps more importantly it can impose severe financial costs on the survivor when one partner dies. This is because they have no equivalent pension rights comparable to a widow. They also have no equivalent right to their shared home, on which they may have to pay inheritance tax, and thus often have to sell in order to meet the bill.
Some local authorities have granted gay people the right to sign a civil register, and although these have no legal status, they have not been met by strong opposition, which may illustrate public acceptance of gay couples.
Ben Summerskill, Stonewall chief executive commended the move saying that he is delighted that such action is to be taken, saying: ‘We’re very pleased that the Government is taking sensible steps to address this injustice. It’s not just social status that matters but also things as simple as the right to share a partner’s pension – something available to every heterosexual.’
However, while some gay rights groups have welcomed the move, some people have criticised the proposal for leaving unmarried heterosexual couples with the same lack of rights.
It has been reported that the move is designed to avoid the controversy of legalising gay marriage, but with so many heterosexual couples choosing not to wed, there is concern that it is not only gay couples that face a lack of rights or an unaffordable tax bill when a partner dies.
Supporters of the move have defended this problem by noting that while homosexual couples are banned from marriage, and thus from having legal rights as partners, heterosexual couples can already sign papers at a registry office.
The big test as to whether these changes to the law are made may be Parliament’s schedule, with some concern that this will not be made a high priority.
