In Hail For Equality: Civil Partnerships For Heterosexual Couples

The Youth's Lens
Jul 9, 2018
2 min read

Explore the rights of Civil Partnership for different countries of different nations in an article written by Rajal Monga.

What is Civil Partnership?

Civil Partnership is a legalized union of two individuals, that is recognized by the country. They were initially introduced as an alternative for marriage for gay couples, and hence, after the legalization of gay marriages, countries like Sweden and Ireland abolished it. On the other hand, countries like Britain and Finland decided to continue keeping it as an alternative for marriage for only same sex couples, while countries like France and Netherlands made it available to heterosexual couples too. Different countries in the EU, propound different rights for the arrangement. The “protection” they offer in Britain are quite similar to marriage, without the religious privileges, however other countries like France offers some tax benefits and adoption rights.

Civil Partnership has become increasingly popular in many countries amongst heterosexual couples, with an increase of 20% to 184,000 in France itself.

Why might people get attracted towards Civil Partnerships?

Civil Partnership often acts as a loser form of commitment. People might also prefer it due to ideological clashes with the concept of marriage. It offers couples a “more modern form of legal union” as suggested by Equal Civil Partnerships, a British advocacy group.

Can heterosexual couples avail a civil partnership in the UK?

Currently, Heterosexual couples cannot avail a civil partnership. This caused, the heterosexual couple, Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan to take their case to be allowed to enter a civil partnership to the High Court in 2017. The couple objected to the “patriarchal baggage” of marriage, though desired a secure legal recognition of their 6-year long relationship. The couple believed “the legacy of marriage” was to "treated women as property for centuries" and hence, it was never a possibility for them.

The law was argued to be “incompatible with equality lawon discrimination and the right to a private and family life”. The defence claimed the ban on heterosexual couples entering a civil partnership was in defiance of the European Convention of Human Rights, however, it was overruled when the judges unanimously agreed for it to be a breach to the European Convention of Human Rights. Lord Kerr stated that the UK government accepts that the difference of treatment for same-sex and heterosexual couples cannot be justified, and hence ruled in favour of Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan. While this doesn’t necessarily allow heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships just yet, it urges the UK government to reform their laws.

“We want to raise our children as equal partners and feel that a civil partnership - a modern, symmetrical institution - sets the best example for them” - Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan. `