Gay couple go to court over marriage rights

Hugh Muir
Friday August 12, 2005
The Guardian

Two British women who married under Canadian law are taking the government to court today to demand equal rights with heterosexual married couples.

Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger, who are university professors, were married in August 2003 after the province of Vancouver gave same-sex couples that right.

In Britain they will have the status of a civil partnership when the relevant legislation comes into force in December. But in a challenge thought to be the first of its kind in Europe, they will tell the high court that this amounts to second-class recognition. A heterosexual marriage conducted abroad would be recognised. The case is being pursued with the help of the human rights organisation Liberty.

Ms Wilkinson, 51, a professor of feminist and health studies at Loughborough University, said they were not practically disadvantaged by the law as it stood but that they saw the issue as one of equality.

She said: "We believe that to operate a different set of rules for same-sex couples is profoundly discriminatory - an affront to social justice and human rights. We think that to have two separate but parallel system sends out a message that lesbian and gay relationships are second class."

She said one result of a successful challenge would be that British same-sex couples would marry in Canada knowing that their unions would be fully recognised when they returned home.

Ms Kitzinger, 48, said the authorities had sought to retain a demarcation between marriage and civil partnerships. "The thinking was to protect marriage from the queers. The symbolic status of marriage is very strong and there has been a feeling that we should not be admitted to that."

James Welch, Liberty's legal director, said: "It is a matter of fairness and equality that they should be treated the same way as any other couple who marries abroad: their marriage should be recognised here.

"They shouldn't have to settle for the second-best option of a civil partnership."

Peter Tatchell of OutRage also applauded the high court challenge. "This is a historic challenge to a grave injustice. All other marriages conducted lawfully abroad are recognised in the UK. To refuse to recognise a lawful same-sex marriage is an act of appalling discrimination."

He added: "The ban on same-sex marriage in the UK is institutional homophobia."

Keep an eye on this one, boys. You gotta admit, when it comes to fighting and winning legal battles for gay parent and spousal rights, we owe a lot to the lesbians for their courage and strength.

Yes, Smokey and Vince I actually just said that.