Britain to Allow Legal Civil Unions for Same-Sex Couples

It has been announced that civil unions between gay couples will begin to take place in the UK by the end of the year. The British goverment has announced that homosexual partners in Britain will be able to enter into civil unions beginning in December.

The Civil Partnership Bill, which was passed by Parliament last year, is the proposed legislature that will give homosexuals the controversial official legal status. It gives the right to form legally binding partnerships and entitles the applicants to tax and pension rights similar to that of married couples.

Starting on December 5th 2005, gay couples in Britain will be able to notify a register office of an intention to form the homosexual civil partnership, and after a 15-day waiting period official documents can be signed.

While the new act does not use the term "marriage" to define the partnerships, it gives most of the benefits provided to traditional marriage partnerships in the UK.

The British Department of Trade and Industry officials estimate that more than 42,000 same-sex partnership agreements will have taken place by 2050.

Also this week, the UK military announced that same-sex couples, while they are couples, will be granted access to family quarters. The ban against homosexuals in the military was dropped in 2000 after a European court ruled against the UK.

Denmark was the first EU nation to allow legislation for unions in 1989 and since then nine European Union countries have followed and allowed same-sex partnerships to proceed.

In addition, across the Atlantic in the US, more than a dozen states now recognise various forms of civil union. However, the controversy of this can be seen clearly by the fact that in contrast, eleven American states voted in November 2004 to ban same-sex "marriage".

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Canada, politicians are deciding whether to pass a bill that would force civic officials to perform same-sex marriages but provide exemption for members of the clergy.

The bill, which is expected to pass easily when it is introduced at the Parliament today, essentially amends 73 of the provinces laws that contain the words "spouse," "spousal," "marriage," "marital," "husband," "wife," "widow" and "widower."

Ontario, which has recognised same-sex "marriages" since June 2003, is the first province in all of North America to lose hold of the traditional definition of marriage. The majority of Canada’s provinces now recognise gay unions legally, and the issue has gone nationwide in recent month with the introduction of a federal bill that would recognise such unions and marriages.

The controversy over the issue that is exploding across both sides of the Atlantic, has always been a sensitive and highly debated issue amongst the Churches.

In September 2004, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II spoke out against civil-unions by stating, "Legal guarantees, analogous to those granted to marriage, cannot be applied to unions between persons of the same sex without creating a false understanding of the nature of marriage."

In addition, the worldwide Anglican Communion is currently attempting to reconcile after the denomination has been driven to the brink of a schism over the issue of homosexuality in the Church and the blessings of same-sex unions.

Recently, the churches under the Anglican Archbishop of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, have broken all ties with the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada, and the U.S. Episcopal Church because those members of the Anglican communion have affirmed the "sanctity and integrity" of same-sex unions. Nigeria in fact has the second highest number of Anglicans in the world, after the church’s birthplace in the UK.