All the latest breaking news on gay and same-sex marriage. Browse The THEGAYUK’s complete collection of features, articles and updates on gay and same-sex marriage.
Actor Stephen Wallem who played Thor Lundgren in the hit show Nurse Jackie just got engaged to his boyfriend.
(C) SHOWTIME / YOUTUBE
Stephen Wallem and partner, theatre director Tony Humrichouser, are officially engaged.
The Nurse Jackie star took to social media today to announced the engagement with a simple photo of their two hands plus engagement rings and the caption, “He said yes”.
The engagement has been a long time in the planning, with Stephen revealing that they had talked about marriage back in 2011, but same-sex marriage was still illegal in their home state of New York.
The couple recently celebrated their 10th year together. To celebrate Stephen published the very first time the pair were photographed together, saying, “The first photo we ever took together. Ten years ago. My everything. Happy Anniversary”
Christian business owners Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski in the US are even going to court to fight for the right to ensure they are not forced to provide services to gay people getting married. The duo makes and sell wedding invitations and say that their Christian beliefs are so strong that they shouldn’t be forced to make products for LGBT+ people getting hitched. They also believe that their freedom of speech is being curtailed.
They had their legal counsel, Kate Anderson from ADF Legal, speak to the rather silent media pool about their decision to take their case to the Arizona Supreme Court.
It all boils down to the fact that Joanna and Breanna feel that making gay marriage invitations would go against their religious beliefs and should be able to do this without being punished. This is despite the fact that they’ve never been actually undertaken a job to make invitations for any same-sex couples before they brought the case.
Duka and Koski’s business is called Brush & Nib Studios and is based out of Arizona, and Arizona state law forbids companies from discriminating against the LGBT+ community.
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Kate and Rebecca tied the knot in one of the UK’s most unsual venues, the longest, deepest and highest canal tunnels in Britain.
(C) Laura Rhian
The historic tunnel and visitor centre, which is owned by waterways and wellbeing charity the Canal & River Trust, is set in a picturesque location on the edge of the Peak District National Park just outside Huddersfield in West Yorkshire and was the stunning setting for the marriage of Kate Stephenson and Rebecca (Becks) Errett, both of Holmfirth.
The couple, who share the same birthday and are both 36 years old, decided to tie the knot at Standedge’s Visitor Centre after viewing a number of other Yorkshire locations and deciding that the iconic tunnel was the ideal place for them.
With the wedding date being right in the heart of the festive season, the happy couple gave their ceremony, wedding breakfast and party a Christmas theme, complete with a carol-singing choir, Christmas trees, fairy lights and a meal on sharing platters to mimic the traditional Christmas Day lunch, while guests danced late in to the night.
While not originally hailing from Yorkshire, Kate and Rebecca have long roots in the county having met 17 years ago while reading for a degree in performance design and production at the now defunct Bretton Hall College of Education, the Grade II listed former manor house that is now being developed into a luxury hotel within the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The couple met on the second day of the course and have been together ever since, while the wedding proposal from Becks to Kate came in a novel way at a breakout room game in Liverpool where the ring was hidden in the last puzzle.
Kate Stephenson said, “We were looking for a venue that could host the ceremony and wedding breakfast in one location, but also somewhere that was typically Yorkshire in its essence and combined a rustic feel with some industrial heritage. We looked at many different locations but as soon as we set foot in Standedge we both realised it was our dream venue. Those dreams came true in the most amazing way. We’d like to thank all the Standedge staff who helped make it such as special day.”
Iain Weston of the Canal & River Trust which manages the Standedge site said, “We are delighted to have hosted the first same-sex wedding at Standedge Tunnel and to be part of Kate and Becks’ special Christmas present to each other. We would like to wish them many congratulations and much happiness in the future.”
Standedge Tunnel, which dates from 1811 and stretches for more than 5km (3 miles) from Marsden in West Yorkshire to Diggle in Greater Manchester, was licensed to host wedding ceremonies in August 2017. Weddings take place in the fabulous Thomas Bourne Room which has exposed bricks, cast-iron columns and a wood-beamed ceiling. Large bright windows overlook the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and couples can arrive or depart by barge. The room holds up to 200 people. Find out more click here
Proposing just the once can be nerve-racking enough but this Polish couple did it a whopping 100 times to see what public reactions were like.
(C) www.rainbowstar.pl
You may remember Jakub and David as the Polish LGBT activist and vlogger couple who are trying to change the public’s perceptions of LGBT+ people in Poland. Since their very first video, the duo has faced hideous homophobia as well as death threats including a threat to have their throats slit, in their home country of Poland.
Against all odds, the couple actually tied the knot last year, although not in their home country, because Poland does not yet offer it’s lesbian and gay couples same-sex marriage.
To gauge the public’s reaction to two men proposing to each other, Jakub and David took to the streets of Warsaw to propose marriage in front of strangers and filmed their responses.
They recorded the reactions with hidden cameras and asked unsuspecting members of the public to take part in the experiment, by asking them to film the proposal, without them realising that the proposal would be to another man.
A spokesperson for the couple, Robert Peszek said, “Surprisingly it turned out that people totally accept them and wished them all the best. They didn’t cut any hates or bad people reactions. It’s absolutely wonderful and enormously uplifting for all LGBT society in Poland what they did.”
Are there differences between civil partnerships and marriage? Andrew Smith, Associate Solicitor for Blacks Solicitors’ Family Law team, answers the question.
What are the legal differences between a civil partnership and a marriage?
“There are very few ‘legal’ differences between a civil partnership and a same-sex marriage. Civil partners cannot refer to themselves as ‘married’ and it is a different ceremony. On a certificate of civil partnership, both parents are named rather than just the father on a marriage certificate; but there is legally little difference between the two.”
“The main differences are similar to those between a religious marriage and a civil ceremony undertaken by heterosexual couples; in regard to the formation, the ceremony, the administrative process and the certificates.
“Somewhat controversially, one of the main differences is that civil partners are unable to cite the specific act of Adultery as the main reason for why the civil partnership has broken down. This is because the definition of adultery is sexual intercourse with someone of the opposite sex outside marriage. Instead, civil partners have to use ‘unfaithfulness’ as one of a number of examples of Unreasonable Behaviour.”
What about divorce? Can civil partnered couples get divorced?
“A married couple will have a ‘divorce’ whilst civil partners will have a ‘dissolution’ if they choose to separate. Therefore the answer is technically yes as although the terminology is different, it does mean the same thing in principle.”
What about pension rights, are they the same between marriage and civil partnerships?
“Up until very recently, this had been a grey area for those who retired prior to when the act was introduced.
“The Walker v Innospec [2017] case which recently made the headlines challenged this and saw the Supreme Court unanimously allow Mr Walker’s appeal for his employer to pay his pension to his spouse in the event of his death, despite his service predating December 2005.
“This fantastic result will pave the way for all same-sex couples in a similar situation, who are either married or in a civil partnership, to be able to leave their pension to their spouse.”
If you have a LGBT legal query you would like to discuss with Andrew, please email him on AJSmith@LawBlacks.com or visit the website for more information: www.lawblacks.com
The law concerning same-sex marriage and divorce in England and Wales still isn’t equal as statistics show same-sex divorce is on the rise.
CREDIT: dolgachov bigstock
Same-sex marriage may only have been legal for four years but divorces have taken a sharp increase, according to a new report from the Office of National Statistics released this month. James Perrett dives into the data and chats to three law firms to find out what we know so far.
There’s a little-documented fact about divorce that may come as a surprise to the LGBTQ+ community. Despite same-sex marriages being introduced into law in England and Wales in 2014, adultery cannot be used as grounds for divorce of a same-sex couple because the law defines adultery as “sexual intercourse with a person of the opposite sex.”
The latest data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) shows the number of divorces between same-sex couples in England and Wales last year was 338, more than three times the number in 2016 which was 112.
“Adultery” doesn’t legally count for same-sex divorce
Unreasonable behaviour was the most common reason that same-sex couples gave for divorcing, accounting for 83% of divorces among women and 73% among men. But how many of those divorces cited unreasonable behaviour because adultery was not an option?
Helen Habershon, senior associate at Barlow Robbins in Woking, told me it may not be that simple.
“A key fault in the system is that not only can you not petition for your own adultery, you also have to get the person who committed adultery to admit it.
“They don’t have to name who the other person is, but they do have to admit it on the form that the court sends them.
“Many times, if there’s any worry or risk that the other person won’t admit the adultery, I always advise that they proceed on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour.
“So, although in a same-sex marriage they can’t use adultery as a reason, I’m not sure how significant that actually is.
“Because of everything that has to go with adultery, you’re invariably in some way or another going to submit an unreasonable behaviour petition.”
But she added: “It is ridiculous that it’s limited to what the law says, in that it must be intercourse with the opposite sex, because it’s still the affair, the lack of intimacy, the breach of trust.”
When you petition for divorce, you’re required to prove your marriage has suffered an irretrievable breakdown and then give one of the following reasons: adultery (in heterosexual marriages); unreasonable behaviour; desertion; separation of two years without consent or separation of five years, for which no consent is required. You also have to have been married for more than one year before petitioning for divorce.
According to the ONS statistics, the average (median) number of years of a same-sex marriage before divorce in 2017 was 3.5 years for men and 2.8 years for women.
“It could be that some people have been together a long time and they get married so that they can have children.” Helen suggested. “Things like IVF and adoption can put a strain on a relationship.”
“Law is based on 1973 legislation”
But for Zahra Pabani, partner and family law expert at Shakespeare Martineau, the current law isn’t just discriminatory to same-sex relationships.
“I would say it’s as frustrating for heterosexual couples as it is for homosexual couples,” she said. “Our law is based on 1973 legislation, it has not moved with the times for same-sex or opposite-sex couples.
“It’s frustrating for everybody, not just the gay community – maybe more so because they can never claim for adultery but it’s frustrating for everybody.”
She added that the high numbers for same-sex divorce may be down to the excitement around the law finally coming to pass, after many years of hard campaigning.
“Everybody got terribly excited that they could get married,” she said. “So I think sometimes the relationship might not have been great but you try to salvage it by getting married.
“I see that in opposite-sex couples who have been living together for a really long time then try to refresh the relationship by getting married and the relationship breaks down quickly. It doesn’t matter what sexual orientation you are, lots of people do that.
“There was a flurry of gay marriage but it wasn’t always for the right reasons, not because they’re gay; everybody does it.”
Where the law is discriminatory, she argues, is when it comes to single people trying to become a parent.
“It’s much harder to apply for a parental order if you’re single, gay or straight,” she said. “As a woman, you could try to get yourself pregnant but if you’re a man and you do it by getting a friend pregnant it’s much, much harder for you because the law will always favour the person carrying the child.
“Even harder if you were a gay woman who couldn’t carry a baby so you used a surrogate, because you’re not the person carrying it.”
Zahra is a Resolution lawyer, part of a body that advocates a non-confrontational approach to divorce, and said people petitioning for divorce should first try to reach a settlement out-of-court, either directly through their partner, or through a good solicitor.
*Divorce statistics from ONS are derived from information recorded by Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals Service during the divorce process
The UK’s highest court has ruled that Ashers Bakery did not discriminate against a customer because of his sexuality.
(C) Londondeposit Depositphoto
Speaking on the ruling President Lady Brenda Hale said, “It is deeply humiliating, and an affront to human dignity, to deny someone a service because of that person’s race, gender, disability, sexual orientation or any of the other protected personal characteristics, but that is not what happened in this case.”
“The bakers did not refuse to fulfil his order because of his sexual orientation. They would have refused to make such a cake for any customer, irrespective of their sexual orientation.”
“The bakers could not refuse to supply their goods to Mr Lee because he was a gay man or supported gay marriage but that is quite different from obliging them to supply a cake iced with a message with which they profoundly disagreed.”
‘We thought that this order was at odds with our beliefs, certainly was in contradiction with what the Bible teaches.’
Queer Space is an organisation, which seeks to increase the visibility of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Community in a positive manner to counteract the disregard, and negative images presented to the general public.
“Discrimination Clash”
Rhian Radia is a leading lawyer who specialises in discrimination cases, and a Director at Vardags. She said today, “A judgment of the Supreme Court today has found that a bakery in Northern Ireland did not discriminate against a gay man by refusing to bake him a cake with a message supporting gay marriage.
“The bakers oppose the introduction of gay marriage on religious grounds. The Supreme Court’s decision found that the refusal to bake the cake was because of the message on the cake rather than the sexual orientation of the customer or his association with Queerspace, a volunteer-led organisation for the LGBT community. Sexual orientation and support of gay marriage were viewed to be two separate things. The judges decided that people of all sexual orientations can and do support gay marriage.
“The judgment is being touted as a victory for free speech by those who believe that the bakers should not have been forced to bake a case with a message they disagreed with.
“This is the latest in a line of employment law cases where types of protection from discrimination clash with each other, in this case religious belief and sexual orientation and political belief. But is baking a cake as part of providing a service to a customer really about free speech where the rights of a business beat those of an individual?”
Time Line:
JULY 2014: Gareth Lee reports that Ashers Bakery refused to bake him a gay which said “Support Gay Marriage”. The Christian Institute provided the bakery with legal support.
MAY 2015: A UK court found in 2015 that Ashers Bakery had been unlawful in refusing to bake a cake for Gareth Lee. The bakery owners were ordered to pay £500 in damages.
JUNE 2015: The bakery announces its outline for appeal
OCTOBER 2016: Ashers loses it appeal at the Court of Appeal, which upheld the original judgement that the bakers had acted unlawfully.
NOVEMBER 2016: Ashers announce it is to appeal again
OCTOBER 2018: Ashers wins its case in the UK Supreme Court
The McArthurs, who own the company, have insisted that the issue was never with Mr Lee’s sexuality, but with the message that he had requested on the cake.
Leading human rights activist has said that verdict that the Ashers Bakery did not discriminate in refusing to make a “gay cake” is a victory for freedom of expression.
Peter Tatchell has described the act of same-sex marriage as a “political idea” and that no business should be forced to produce a product that they have a ‘conscientious objection” to. He stated that the verdict that the Ashers Bakery did not discriminate in refusing to honour an hour for a cake which had “Although I profoundly disagree with Asher’s opposition to marriage equality, in a free society neither they nor anyone else should be forced to facilitate a political idea that they oppose”.
He added, “Businesses can now lawfully refuse a customer’s request to emblazon a political message if they have a conscientious objection to it. This includes the right to refuse messages that are sexist, xenophobic or anti-gay, which is a good thing”.
Appeal after appeal
The Asher’s Bakery row has rolled on since 2014 when the Christian run Ashers Baking Co. in Northern Ireland refused to make a pro-gay marriage cake, which featured a slogan “Support Gay Marriage – Queer Space Born 1998” with a picture of Sesame Street characters Ernie and Bert, because it says it clashed with the ethos of their company, saying,
‘We thought that this order was at odds with our beliefs, certainly was in contradiction with what the Bible teaches.’
Queer Space is an organisation, which seeks to increase the visibility of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered (LGBT) Community in a positive manner to counteract the disregard, and negative images presented to the general public.
They didn’t discriminate because the customer was gay…
Tatchell continued, “Ashers did not discriminate against the customer, Gareth Lee, because he was gay. They objected to the message he wanted on the cake: ‘Support gay marriage.’
“Discrimination against LGBT people is wrong. But in a free society, people should be able to discriminate against ideas that they disagree with. I am glad the court upheld this important liberal principle.
“If the original judgement against Ashers had been upheld it would have meant that a Muslim printer could be obliged to publish cartoons of Mohammed and a Jewish printer could be forced to publish a book that propagates Holocaust denial. It could have also encouraged far right extremists to demand that bakers and other service providers facilitate the promotion of anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim opinions.
“That would have set a dangerous, authoritarian precedent that could have been open to serious abuse.
“Discrimination against people should be illegal but not discrimination against ideas and opinions,” said Mr Tatchell.
In Romania over the last weekend, there was a vote on changing the wording of the constitution of the nation where marriage is defined as between two spouses to between one man and one woman.
The staunch conservative government had elicited the support and involvement of the Romanian Orthodox church and mounted a campaign against gay marriage. Further taking the unusual step of extending the vote from 1 to 2 days to try and get the required number of votes
Romania is a country that does not recognise gay marriage or civil unions. So whilst the alteration to the constitution would have blocked future changes in LGBT+ civil rights it would have made no difference now. So what was all of the fuss about?
My friends in Romania, gay and straight tell me the public perception is this has all been a “smokescreen” to divert attention from what is really going on in the government. One of its most powerful politicians, Liviu Dragnea, has been convicted for his part in a fake jobs scam and sentenced to three and a half years in prison. His appeal against sentence was held up for another month at the start of this week.
Early indications from pre-voting day polls suggested up to 90% of people would cast their vote. A vote for No would have counted as part of the percentage of the overall number of voters. This is important as 30% of the voting population were required to take part to validate the referendum. In response to this the No campaign had promoted an abstention from voting as a way to defeat the vote by reducing the number of people taking part and forcing the Yes campaign to provide all of the 30% of voters required.
The referendum was not validated as only 20.4% of voters turned out. A massive result for passive resistance!
What does this mean for the future of LGBT+ rights in Romania? Is there a softening towards a more accepted view, or were the populous just fed up of being duped by the government?
“Our support for same-sex couples to marry reflects Barnardo’s core belief that every person is different but equal and everyone’s unique worth should be recognised.”
Barnardo’s NI is throwing its support behind the campaign for civil marriage equality in Northern Ireland. It is the first children’s charity in Northern Ireland to publicly voice its support.
Barnardo’s is making the announcement to coincide with Belfast Pride’s Coming Out for Change Campaign.
As a UK-wide organisation Barnardo’s has in the past supported marriage equality campaigns in other areas of the UK and in the Republic of Ireland.
Director Barnardo’s NI Lynda Wilson said, “We work with many children, young people and families who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Many of our workforce and volunteers as a reflection of society also identify as LGBTQ and we do not discriminate.”
“We are committed to providing equality of opportunity and believe marriage equality is an extension of that. As a children’s charity we want the children and families we support as well as our staff and volunteers to know that we will stand up for them and support them. We believe marriage equality should be a right for all regardless of sexual orientation.”
“Our support for same sex couples to marry reflects Barnardo’s core belief that every person is different but equal and everyone’s unique worth should be recognised. We work and live in a diverse and multi-cultural environment which Barnardo’s embraces and promotes.”
“Marriage equality legislation has been passed in the rest of the UK, the Republic of Ireland, across western Europe, the USA and Australia and we hope that Northern Ireland will soon follow, giving same sex couples the right and freedom to marry if they so wish.”
Marriage and Northern Ireland
(C) BIGSTOCK
Gay marriage continues to be a contentious issue in Northern Ireland for its politicians, particularly the DUP. Despite same-sex marriage being legal in England, Wales and Scotland, Northern Ireland is the only nation within the UK that doesn’t allow its gay and lesbian couples to get married. Instead, gay couples are only permitted to have Civil Partnerships, which are legally different to marriages.
Speaking about the overturn, Human Rights campaigner, Peter Tatchell said, “Bermuda’s Supreme Court was right to rule that the repeal of same-sex marriage by the country’s parliament was unconstitutional.
“Under Bermuda’s constitution and its international treaty obligations the state is duty-bound to guarantee equal treatment and non-discrimination to all its citizens.
“This ruling will encourage and empower legal challenges to criminalisation and marriage inequality across the Caribbean, many of which are bound to succeed. It is indicative of the unstoppable global trend towards LGBT+ equal human rights.”
Rights won and loss
In 2017 Bermuda legalised gay marriage after a couple won the right to marry on the island after a Supreme court challenge found that not allowing gay couples to wed would be discrimination.
The couple used the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda’s Human Rights Act to argue their case. They said that not allowing them to marry constituted as discrimination on the basis of their sexuality, something that the act expressly forbids.
2016 Referendum
In 2016 Bermuda held a non-binding referendum on the issue of same-sex marriage and were asked two questions:
“Are you in favour of same-sex marriage in Bermuda?” and “Are you in favour of same-sex civil unions in Bermuda?”
Both votes were lost by 69 percent and 63 percent respectively with just 46.89 percent of the electorate turning out to vote on the issue. The low turn out makes the referendum invalid according to The Royal Gazette.
