Same sex marriages update

On 29 March 2014 the law changed to allow same sex couples to marry. In the three months following the new law, 1,409 same sex couples married, with 56% of them being female.

However couples who had already entered into a civil partnership have been left in limbo for nearly nine months, waiting for further legislation to allow them to convert their partnership into a marriage. This will only be possible later this year on 10 December. Their only other option before December is to dissolve their civil partnership and then marry. Understandably, many couples do not want to do this. As long as they entered into their partnership before 29 March and apply for the conversion within a year of 10 December 2014, they will not have to pay for the privilege of doing so.

Nevertheless there is still a feeling amongst some that the discrimination is not over. The draft conversion regulations do not allow for a formal ceremony and many want to celebrate the fact that they are now able to marry. Couples attend before a registrar to sign a declaration and can only do so during normal business hours, Monday to Friday. A female couple in Devon have delivered a petition with 40,000 signatures to their MP calling for a change to these regulations. The government have said that they are looking into the situation.