Civil partnerships for straight couples are a good start – but next let’s abolish marriage altogether
by Sirena Bergman, Independent:
As an atheist and feminist I was up until today faced with a choice: sacrificing my values to engage in an institution I vehemently disagree with, or giving up the social capital that comes from people viewing you as being in a committed relationship.
I never thought I would sympathise with those who got teary-eyed with excitement over the royal wedding – who cares about two strangers signing a contract to not cheat on each other? – but perhaps we’re more similar than I thought: the news that Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan may soon be getting civil partnershipped is more exciting to me than many weddings of people who I’ve actually met.
Steinfeld and Keidan have been campaigning for this for years – as a heterosexual couple they had thus far been denied the opportunity to enter into a civil partnership, which applied only to same-sex couples. Because marriage is – unarguably – a sexist and patriarchal institution, they didn’t feel comfortable applying it to their relationship, but they also didn’t want to give up all the additional benefits and legal securities associated with it.
Civil partnerships in the UK are not historically a bastion of progressive views either: they were offered to gay couples as a consolation prize when a homophobic society deemed them unworthy of actual marriage. But at the very least it is a modern creation which allows for a rethinking of what love and relationships should be, and how we exist as partnered people in today’s world.
The Christian Institute’s Ciarán Kelly, Deputy Director (Staff and Communications) for The Christian Institute expressed his disappointment at the ruling.
‘Gold standard’
“This is yet another fundamental attack on marriage from a court system that seems determined to do all it can to undermine it.
“The couple who brought this case objected to what they called the ‘sexist trappings’ of marriage. But that is to fundamentally misrepresent what marriage is about.
“Marriage – with its public promises of lifelong faithfulness – is the gold standard of commitment. It is beneficial for the individuals involved and for society as a whole. With this ruling the court has given its backing to ‘marriage lite’ – all the benefits of marriage but without the responsibilities.
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