LONDON — Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle are in love and want to tie the knot — but they don't want to get married.
The 26-year-old Londoners think they should be allowed to have a civil partnership, a form of legal union available in Britain only to same-sex couples. Gay rights activists are backing the couple's bid in an attempt to legalize gay
"We want to secure official status for our relationship in a way that supports the call for complete equality and is free of the negative, sexist connotations of marriage," Freeman said according to Britain's Guardian newspaper.
"We are taking this stand against discrimination and in support of legal equality for everyone, regardless of sexual orientation," he said.
Doyle and Freeman were refused a permit Tuesday from their local town hall, setting up a likely appeal.
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who accompanied Doyle and Freeman at the Islington registry office, said "denying heterosexual couples the right to have a civil partnership is heterophobic."
Marriage and civil partnership are virtually identical in law, and activists think both should be open to all couples.
from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40085439/ns/world_news-europe/?GT1=43001
This does not sit too well with me. I understand their reasoning in trying to gain equality but this is where my problem with gay marriages and unions comes about. It is twisting the view of marriage. I feel that the importance of marriage between a man and a woman has almost dwindled completely to nothing to the world.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting story-- it makes me think about "fairness". If gays can't legally be married (in most places), then is it "fair" to allow straight couples to be bound through civil unions? Hmm. I think this couple's decision also sheds light on a global culture that doesn't see the "God" in marriage so much anymore. If we trust our governments to bind us better than we trust our God, what does this say about our morality and our faith?
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