BRITAIN: Gay and lesbian couples who register their "civil" partnerships will be granted the same rights as married couples under plans published yesterday by the British government. Frank Millar, London Editor reports.
However, the revolutionary proposal to allow what would in effect be gay marriages ran into immediate controversy as the veteran equality campaigner, Mr Peter Tatchell, branded it "heterophobic" and insisted that all unmarried couples, gay and straight, should enjoy equal rights under the law.
The Minister for Women and Equality, Ms Jacqui Smith, said the new Civil Partnership Registration Scheme - expected to begin in 2010 - would underline the inherent value of committed same-sex relationships, support stable families, value diversity and give "respect, recognition and justice for those who have been denied it too long".
Under the scheme, gay and lesbian couples who register their commitment before two witnesses and a registrar would acquire equal pension and property rights, as well as next-of-kin rights in hospitals.
The proposals would allow gays to benefit from a dead partner's pension and exempt them from inheritance tax on a partner's home. Couples could claim parental responsibility for each other's children and receive joint state pension benefits, while also being obliged to support each other financially.
Ms Smith said the proposals would give couples "rights and responsibilities", and said the move was not about being "politically correct" but about bringing law and practice into line with the reality of peoples' lives.
"Thousands of people are in long-term, stable, same-sex relationships," she said. "They are committed to each other in all areas of their joint lives but their relationships are invisible in the eyes of the law.
"Same-sex couples often face a range of humiliating, distressing and unnecessary problems because of a lack of legal recognition. Civil partnership registration would underline the inherent value of committed same-sex relationships."
The gay rights campaign group, Stonewall, welcomed the proposals, which chief executive Mr Ben Summerskill said were long overdue.
However, Mr Tatchell said the government had opted for a "watered-down version of marriage" and attacked the scheme as "heterophobic" because it would not extend the same rights to unmarried heterosexual couples.
"The government should amend its proposals to ensure legal rights for all unwed couples, gay and straight. It is divisive, heterophobic and discriminatory to exclude unmarried heterosexual couples. Cohabiting heterosexuals also lack recognition and protection. This is a grave injustice."
The Liberal Democrats echoed the charge. Their spokesman, Dr Evan Harris, said: "The decision to exclude opposite-sex couples from claiming the rights conferred by civil partnership will be a bitter disappointment to hundreds of thousands of heterosexual unmarried couples."
Mr Summerskill expressed his delight at having secured the government's commitment to change the law. He said his organisation was dealing with a woman with cancer and whose partner and child stand to lose the family home to inheritance tax upon her death. "That is a profoundly unfair position for people who have been together for more than a decade," he said.
The consultation document on the proposals, published yesterday, projected that up to a third of the lesbian and gay population would take part in civil registration by 2050. It is thought that a Bill incorporating the proposals could be presented to parliament by November.
The Conservatives signalled that their MPs would have a free vote on the issue in the Commons. Spokesman Mr Tim Yeo said: "It is right that those people that have been victims of discrimination in the past will now have this opportunity. This does not detract in any way from the status of marriage which evidence shows is still the preferred choice of many couples and provides an excellent framework for couples bringing up children."