Civil partners denied marriage ceremonies
Many Quaker couples in Britain have reacted with disappointment to draft regulations
Many Quaker couples in Britain have reacted with disappointment to the news that the conversion of civil partnerships into marriage will not involve a marriage ceremony.
The publication of a draft government regulation has revealed that couples wishing to convert their civil partnerships to marriage will be required to attend a registry office instead of having a wedding ceremony. From 10 December, if this regulation is adopted, these couples will take part in a civil process before being issued with a ‘certificate of conversion’, rather than a wedding certificate.
‘This is more than a formality for those in civil partnerships,’ said Paul Parker, the recording clerk of Britain Yearly Meeting.
‘It is deeply unfair that Quaker couples are denied their opportunity to celebrate their long-term loving relationships in their worshipping community.’
Britain Yearly Meeting stated, in a press release, that ‘Quakers in Britain welcomed the law passed last year enabling same sex couples in England and Wales to marry and they eagerly anticipated the day when all Quaker marriages, of same sex or opposite sex couples, could be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, recorded and recognised as legally valid and reported to the state in exactly the same way’.
Draft government regulations are planned to go before the House of Lords on Tuesday 29 July in the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 (Consequential and Contrary Provisions and Scotland) (No. 2) Order 2014, introduced by Lindsay Groushaw, baroness Northover.
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