[Emirates 24/7] Britain plans to allow same-sex unions to be celebrated in places of worship, removing a key legal distinction between homosexual civil partnerships and heterosexual marriage, newspapers reported on Sunday. The move would lift the ban on religious ceremonies for the registration of gay unions imposed when Britain legalised civil partnerships six years ago.
The government may also propose scrapping the legal definition of marriage as a relationship between a man and a woman, allowing gay men and women to call their partners husbands or wives, the Sunday Times said.
Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone will launch a consultation on the issue next week, the Sunday Telegraph said.
Critics say restricting homosexuals to civil partnerships rather than marriage is a form of discrimination, even when, as in Britain, there little or no difference in the legal rights conferred. If passed into law the plan would bring Britain closer to countries such as the Netherlands and Canada where gays can legally marry.
The issue touches on religious sensitivities and will add to pressure on the Anglican Church of England, which is split between traditionalists and liberal priests on the subject.
Britain's Quakers are keen to celebrate same-sex unions as marriages, while the Liberal Judaism organisation already has Jewish rituals for same-sex partnerships. The Roman Catholic Church and Islam only sanction marriage between a man and a woman.
Civil partnerships, introduced in Britain in 2005, cannot legally be conducted in a place of religious worship, and cannot contain any element of religious service.
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Posted by: Fred ||
02/14/2011 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11140 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
goodo, let the people choose their own path to happiness. Whatever floats the boat
i'd be campaigning for the right to gay divorce more to the point. in my experience gay men are the most fickle partners of all.
#3
Question: does this leave it up to the particular church as whether to host the ceremony, or are all churchs (or other holy buildings) forced to allow marriage no matter the participants?
I'd heard that within 3 days of the first legal gay union there was a filing for divorce.
#5
"The Roman Catholic Church and Islam only sanction marriage between a man and a woman."
As soon as this is implemented, we need a homosexual couple to show up at the biggest mosque in London (with suitable police protection and TV cameras, of course) claiming to be moslem and demanding the resident iman perform their marriage ceremony posthaste.
Hilarity would ensue.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/14/2011 19:10 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"The Roman Catholic Church and Islam only sanction marriage between a man and a woman."
To be more specific, the Bible and the Koran condemn homosexuality. The Southern Baptist Convention and the Roman Catholic Church are the most adherent to the Biblical laws and statutes, while Islam is adherent to the Sura.
An American jihadist who set up the terrorist training camp where the leader of the 2005 London jacket wallahs learned how to manufacture explosives, has been quietly released after serving only four and a half years of a possible 70-year sentence, a Guardian investigation has learned.
The unreported sentencing of Mohammed Junaid Babar to "time served" because of what a New York judge described as "exceptional co-operation" that began even before his arrest has raised questions over whether Babar was a US informer at the time he was helping to train the ringleader of the 7 July tube and bus bombings.
Lawyers representing the families of victims and survivors of the attacks have compared the lenient treatment of Babar to the controversial release of the Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi.
Babar was imprisoned in 2004 -- although final sentencing was deferred -- after pleading guilty in a New York court to five counts of terrorism. He set up the training camp in Pakistain where Mohammad Sidique Khan and several other British beturbanned goons learned about bomb-making and how to use combat weapons.
Babar admitted to being a dangerous terrorist who consorted with some of the highest-ranking members of al-Qaeda, providing senior members with money and equipment, running weapons, and planning two attempts to assassinate the former president of Pakistain, General Pervez Perv Musharraf. ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
But in a deal with prosecutors for the US attorney's office, Babar agreed to plead guilty and become a government supergrass in return for a drastically reduced sentence.
Continued on Page 47
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[Emirates 24/7] Britain plans to allow same-sex unions to be celebrated in places of worship, removing a key legal distinction between homosexual civil partnerships and heterosexual marriage, newspapers reported on Sunday. The move would lift the ban on religious ceremonies for the registration of gay unions imposed when Britain legalised civil partnerships six years ago.
Pervez 
