Same Sex Marriage comes into effect in England and Wales - we're married all over again!

Hello everyone,

You may recall that last year, the United Kingdom government passed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. This bill passed through both Houses of Parliament in a Conservative government with the support of all three main political parties, including the (Conservative) Prime Minister, David Cameron.

Finally today the provisions of the bill came into full effect.

It now means of course that same sex couples have the freedom to marry in England and Wales - although not at Church of England churches or the Church in Wales churches; however other religious organisations can opt in to being a recognised same sex marriage provider. I believe that part, if not the whole reason, for the English and Welsh churches being prohibited in the bill to perform the marriages ceremonies is because they are national churches, and the issue faced a lot of opposition from back bench Conservative MPs in the Commons, and spiritual leaders and peers in the House of Lords. You have to understand that despite our greatly advanced political thinking in the UK, that the peers sitting in the House of Lords include spiritual leaders and hereditary peers who have inherited their titles! My point is that given the United Kingdom has a state church, of which the head of state (the Queen) is the leader, and our upper house is formed of peers and spiritual leaders, it's quite remarkable that Civil Partnerships were even passed ten years ago, let alone same sex marriage last year!

There are two other things that come out of this bill which also come into effect today. Anyone who had previously been Civil Partnered in the United Kingdom is now entitled to "upgrade" their CP to marriage status if they so chose. Anyone who was legally married overseas in a same sex marriage was previously recognised as having a CP, but now automatically are recognised as being married.
Yesterday Jon and I were recognised as married in Maryland, US, and CP'd in the UK - today we are married in both!

Same sex marriage is a devolved issue in the UK (devolved means that some issues are handled on a local government level, and not all national UK laws automatically apply). Scotland passed its own same sex marriage bill last month, which should come into effect before the end of the year. Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK without same sex marriage. Civil Partnerships are a UK national law, and therefore Northern Ireland continues to recognise and perform them.

It's truly a milestone and testament to the progressive thinking of our government that we have come this far, and I sincerely applaud their efforts.

Dan.