Urge your MP to attend a Westminster Hall debate on the legal recognition of humanist marriages in England and Wales, taking place on Thursday 27 January.
We need you and your MP to help bring about this long-overdue and much-needed reform to the law. Humanist weddings are legally recognised in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the Channel Islands. Parliament voted in 2013 to pave the way for them in England and Wales, but all these years on, Government inaction means humanist couples can still not have a legally recognised ceremony that best represents their beliefs.
All you need to do is put your postcode into the search box to the right, and it will automatically find your MP and bring up a template letter we have prepared for you to send. We’ve suggested some text you can use, but please, if you are able, do edit it to make it more personal – we know that MPs are more likely to take notice of personalised emails and queries, which are infinitely more powerful than standard letters.
You can read more about our campaigns work around marriage laws.
Thank you for your support.
Humanist weddings are non-religious wedding ceremonies that are fully customised to match the deepest-held values and beliefs of the couple getting married. They are conducted by a humanist celebrant, someone guaranteed to share their beliefs, who creates an entirely personal, sincere, and meaningful ceremony just for them.
Legally recognising humanist marriages would bring marriage law in England and Wales more into line with Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, where personal, meaningful, non-religious humanist ceremonies are already recognised. In Scotland they are now more popular even than religious ceremonies.
How to personalise your email (it really helps)
If you are someone who is planning, or has had, a humanist wedding – please explain this, and the difference legal recognition would make or would have made to your special day.
If you are someone who has friends or family who have had a humanist wedding – please describe what the experience was like, and how it differed to other weddings you have been to.
If you are LGBT – you could emphasise that LGBT people are disproportionately likely to be non-religious and humanists. So the lack of legally recognised humanist marriages puts LGBT people at a particular disadvantage.
If you are a Humanists UK wedding celebrant – emphasise this, and identify what makes these ceremonies distinct and special.