Heterosexual couple lose civil partnership court challenge
From BBC News:
A heterosexual couple who want to enter into a civil partnership rather than marry have lost a High Court challenge.
Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, from London, were told in 2014 that they could not enter into a civil partnership because they were not of the same sex, as the law requires.
They brought a legal challenge, saying the law discriminated against them.
But Mrs Justice Andrews dismissed their claim for judicial review. The couple have said they intend to appeal.
Ms Steinfeld, 34, and Mr Keidan, 39, said they wanted to commit to each other in a civil partnership as it “focuses on equality” and did not carry the patriarchal history and associations of marriage.
However, the Civil Partnership Act 2004 requires that partners be “two people of the same sex”. It grants gay couples legal rights similar to those given to married couples.
The law applies throughout the UK – although there are different rules for marriage and civil partnerships in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The introduction of same-sex marriage – which became legal in England, Wales and Scotland in 2014 – has since given gay couples a choice between that and civil partnership.
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