VERSION|0.5.1|NAME|Brian Haunton|DATE|1358024626|CONTENT|Delurking only to add this comment...

[blockquote]It is quite spectacular isn&#039;t it? Personally I was never all that bothered about the gay marriage thing. The only difference, as far as I can tell, is that I&#039;ll finally be married, rather than &quot;civil partnered.&quot;[/blockquote]

IANAL but Marriage has a legal status in other legal jurisdictions (I would guess that they have to recognize same-sex marriage as well) but Civil Partnership is not. So that a civilly-partnered couple would not be regarded as equivalent to a married one in Spain, Canada or Denmark for example, and civilly-partnered immigrants would have to marry in order to receive the associated benefits. If Civil Partnership were extended to different-sex couples I don&#039;t know what would happen (I know at least one woman who won&#039;t get married because of the patriarchal associations, so it&#039;s not an idle thought).

[b]My[/b] reason for wanting same-sex marriage is a commitment to justice and human rights. Civil Partnership was a fudge and I don&#039;t see any difference between the relationships that my civilly-partnered friends have and the one I have with my wife. Besides talking about someone&#039;s civil partner makes them sound like a pair of accountants. If the various groups of the religious are worried about dangers to marriage, they would make more fuss about divorce.

In summary, then the problems with same-sex marriage are:
1. Everyone will have to get used to saying &#039;Her wife&#039; and &#039;His husband&#039;.
2. Er, that&#039;s it.|EMAIL|Brian@HauntonWhite.co.uk|IP-ADDRESS|90.194.29.16|MODERATIONFLAG|