This weekend, a group of senior Conservative MPs and peers launched a campaign called “Freedom to Marry” in support of the Government’s proposed change to the law to allow same-sex couples to marry in church.
The group, formed by former police minister Nick Herbert, wrote an open letter to the Sunday Telegraph, which said that marriage should be open to all, regardless of sexuality and that churches should be allowed to conduct same-sex marriages but should not be forced to do so.
A civil partnership is a legal marriage between couples that are gay or lesbian. Once a civil partnership occurs between these couples, they are entitled to receive similar treatment and benefits as that of any married couple.
However, although a civil partnership is essentially viewed as a “gay marriage”, between same sex partners, the reason it is not called a marriage, is that there are a few differences between a partnership and a marriage on a technical level.
The main difference between a civil partnership and a civil marriage is that a civil marriage almost always contains religious aspects during the ceremony and, a clergyman can perform civil marriages, whereas only specified registrars can perform a civil partnership.
The move towards gay marriage is splitting the Conservative party and it is thought that around 130 of its MPs will not back the measure when it comes before MPs in the spring.
However, with the backing of some Tory heavyweights, including Mayor of London Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister hopes that the Government can proceed with the legislation by the time of the next election in May 2015, although, even though the proposal is likely to sail through the Commons, there are fears that it will face a tougher passage in the Lords.