The BHA has responded to a government consultation on implementing a change in the law which permits civil partnership ceremonies to take place on religious premises, in some circumstances. The BHA response argues that, although the BHA has every sympathy with those religious lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) who wish to have the option of a civil partnership in a place of worship to be able to do so, the consultation itself is instead framed to bend to the needs of religious organisations. Moreover, the response also states that the proposals actually create a new inequality for humanist LGB people who have no such equivalent ceremony. The BHA also restates its position that it would prefer an equal marriage law, which would encompass civil, humanist and religious marriages, equally for gay and straight couples.
The BHA response argues that the consultation has been framed inadequately, claiming ‘Rather than focusing on the needs of religious LGB people who are unable to get married because of the opposition of religious institutions and religious leaders to permitting a truly equal marriage law, the language of this consultation is all about the needs of religious organisations. The focus is on whether the measures are acceptable to them as opposed to what would be in the best interests of those seeking CPs on religious premises.’
The government consultation proposes allowing civil partnerships to take place in religious premises, if the premise owners allow it. The ceremony itself would remain secular, but would allow LGB people to have legally binding ceremony in a place which has meaning and significance to them. The BHA is concerned that these proposals do not address the underlying inequality for LGB humanist couples, who have no such alternative and would continue to have their civil partnerships conducted in a registry office, then have a separate non-legally humanist ceremony elsewhere.
The BHA response continues ‘Rather than tinker with the provisions around civil partnerships, our preferred move would be to see the marriage law reformed to encompass heterosexual and same-sex marriage – either civil or according to a religion or belief, the latter including both religious and humanist options.’
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For further comment or information, please contact Naomi Phillips at naomi@humanists.uk or on 07540 257101.
See our Marriage Law campaigns page
See here for more information on humanist celebrants
Read the full BHA consultation response
The British Humanist Association is the national charity working on behalf of ethically concerned, non-religious people in the UK. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.