General Chat

Guin...........unless they make it compulsory :-D

I guess a 100c years ago a similar debate would have been taking place about womens voting rights, although not online!

I'm glad we are finally recognising everyones right to equality

It's nothing to do with religion, or 'homophobia'. As far as I can see there will be an option for civil partnership or marriage for gay people but only an option for marriage for heterosexual people. That's not equality.

I've read some of the 'bumf' but not all, please someone correct me if I'm wrong! Also I think that civil partnerships and marriage have the same legal/tax etc. 'benefits', so don't understand the argument that one is 'less' than the other.

I can't profess to know all the ins and outs of what this legislation means but I had a civil ceremony when I married

Can anyone explain what the difference is from a civil partnership and a civil marriage...is there a difference?

:-S

Hi Gins - yes there is :-). A civil marriage is a marriage as per a 'church' marriage but is contracted in a civil, rather than religious, manner - same in legal terms. You cannot be legally divorced from a civil partnership, nor does it have to be consumated to be legally binding. There are other differences too I think but will have to go and look them up!

Thanks for the clarification Sheila, good to know I am married!

Wonder if my husband thinks the same ;-)

Mosques weren't able to conduct marriages after Hardwicke, John. Only Jews and Quakers were exempt. Even Catholics had to marry in an Anglican church at that time.

Roger Gale MP is quoted here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21343387

extract -
if the government is serious about this, take it away, abolish the civil partnerships bill, abolish civil marriage, and create a civil union bill that applies to all people regardless of the sexuality, or their relationships, and that means brothers and brothers, and sisters and sisters, and brothers and sisters as well.

......

He had to explain to the media later that he meant that the 'Sex' aspect should be taken out of the meaning, and that a Civil Union should be a legal contract with full inheritance rights.

EDit - Incest - couldn't remember the word! He wasn't encouraging it.

Yes JLC,

Thinking about the legalities - will they under Tax laws qualify for the Married Couples Allowance and when one dies does the other automatically inherit what a Wife would get at present?

Robert, I don't see why not. In fact if civil partnerships give the same legal rights as marriage, as some claim, then they should already have those rights anyway, same as a married heterosexual couple.

Sheila maybe this change will pave the way for hetrosexuals to be able to get access to civil partnerships if they so wish.

golliw??????????

Golly? A rag/fabric doll which Robertsons jams used to give away badges of?

No wonder I couldn't make sense of it lol, gone before I'd seen mention .

I had a golly when I was little, and loved it dearly...just like the white blonde haired, blue eyed doll, the brown rabbit and the little grey elephant :-) but I digress ( though not really because I suspect having such an assortment of loved toys gave me some insight into how one can be 'different' but equal? ;-) )

Rose. Now we are on fertile ground for discussion. What did you call your little grey elephant? It sounds divine (not in any religious sense). I had a little blue pig called Morca - no idea why :-S :-S

You can buy the Robinsons Golly badges on Amazon :-D

I don't actually understand what difference there is legally between a civil ceremony and a registry office wedding tbh?

I don't have a strong opinion either way....as long as pressure isn't applied to those who may conduct these weddings to do so if they don't want to ...and those who are getting married are not pressured to do so either ...I don't think it's anyone elses business. x

well here goes - I had a golliwog when I was a child and I collected the badges from Robertson's jam - to me it was just a doll with no unpleasant connotations and to be frank it still is - I have always understood the acronym WOG to mean Westernised Oriental Gentleman

waits to be sent to the naughty step

It'd be worth a small fortune by now I should think Ann !!! x

Official bumf :-

The Civil Partnership Act 2004 (CPA 2004) creates a legal union which is very similar, but not fully identical, to marriage. Civil partners have the same rights and responsibilities as married couples in many areas including tax, social security, inheritance and workplace benefits. However, civil partnership is a completely new legal relationship, distinct from marriage, exclusively for same-sex couples. Colloquially, some people refer to civil partnership as same-sex marriage, and to civil partners as being married, but this is not an accurate statement of the law.
The most significant difference between the two types of union is that a valid marriage can be entered into only by a man and a woman, whereas a civil partnership is available only to same-sex couples. There are also other differences, including:

a) civil partnership can only be a civil, and not religious, procedure, whereas opposite-sex couples can, in relevant circumstances, choose to have either a religious or a civil marriage ceremony.

b) adultery is not a ground for dissolution of a civil partnership (as it is for divorce), nor is consummation a criterion for legal validity (as it is in marriage); however, infidelity may be a contributory factor where ‘unreasonable behaviour’ is cited as a ground for seeking dissolution of a civil partnership.

c) there are differences in procedure: a civil partnership is formed when the second partner signs the relevant document, whereas a civil marriage is formed when the couple exchange spoken words and then the register is signed.

Just one small mistake on page 8,,,,,,,,


a church wedding isnt blessed by god.

A Civil marriage normally has no religious words in it,but now a couple can say their own after the offical part has taken place.

Not sure, Kay, what you mean by a church wedding isn't blessed by our Sovereign God. It certainly is. And has been for very very many centuries now. And, as far as I know, it is also blessed by God/Allah in the other two major religions in UK (Islam and Jewish).

See Anglican marriage service:
http://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-worship/worship/texts/pastoral/marriage/marriage.aspx