A heterosexual couple who want to enter a civil partnership — created for gay couples — took a legal challenge to England’s high court on Tuesday, claiming they were being denied equality.
A heterosexual couple who want to enter a civil partnership — created for gay couples — took a legal challenge to England’s high court on Tuesday, claiming they were being denied equality.
Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld, academics who live in London, claim civil partnerships only being available to same-sex couples is incompatible with equality law.
Civil partnerships, which confer essentially the same rights and responsibilities as civil marriage, came into force in England in 2005.
Though full same-sex civil marriage was eventually introduced in 2014, civil partnerships remain available to gay couples.
“The UK government is barring us, and many thousands of opposite-sex couples like us, from the choice of forming a civil partnership,” said Steinfeld, 34.
“We wish to form a civil partnership because that captures the essence of our relationship and values.”
She said civil partnerships were modern and without the “historical baggage... and social expectations” of marriage.
