Gay Weddings in the UK: Quote, Unquote

Civil partnerships between same-sex couples are now legal in the UK. I am celebrating this development with as much joy as I celebrated the first Vermont civil unions (and perhaps more, since I once lived in the UK for two years). It’s wonderful that same-sex couples will now get the same rights, protections, and responsibilities as opposite-sex ones. Still, I am not satisfied. Peter Tatchell of the Guardian puts it well when he says a separate category of union/partnership is akin to apartheid. People would be up in arms if there were separate categories of partnership for whites and non-whites, he notes. Why is a separate category of partnership for gay and lesbian couples acceptable?

Additionally, the BBC and The Times feel they have to put the words “wedding” and “marry” in quotation marks when referring to same-sex ceremonies. Funny, I use the same punctuation when talking about my son “cooking” on his toy stove while I make dinner. It’s kind of like he’s really cooking, but not quite.

So: progress, but not equality. Civil partnerships are at least a significant step up from the oppressive Section 28 ruling that was in force when I lived in the U.K., which prohibited councils and schools from “intentionally promoting homosexuality.” A registered partnership gives same-sex couples in the U.K. far more legal protections than we have here in the U.S. Let’s celebrate the victory, but realize it’s only one step along the way.