All animals are equal...but some animals are more equal than others
TOP judges in the UK have just proved the law is an ass while granting the wish of a heterosexual couple looking to tie the knot with a civil partnership.
George Orwell’s heroic pig Major wrote a set of commandments to ensure equality for the beasts of burden and their new found freedom in the famous satire Animal Farm which was then distorted by the ruling corrupt porcine elite. Sometimes it could also apply to discrimination found in the statute book.
In the modern rush to pass laws to encompass all things ‘equality’ through Parliament, those in our ruling elite sometimes get it wrong but can be sloth-like to admit or correct errors. Legislate in haste, repent at leisure if you will, misquoting the age old wisdom about marriage.
Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan saw in the New Year with a celebration after winning a five-year legal battle to get hitched by way of a civil partnership rather than by a conventional marriage.
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled in their favour that the Civil Partnership Act 2004 - which only applies to same-sex couples - breached the European Convention on Human Rights.
Equality took another step forward with the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013; it meant since March 2014, samesex couples could choose between a civil partnership or to marry. This was not possible for mixed-sex couples and triggered the start of a long fight by Rebecca, 37, and Charles, 41, through the courts.
Successive governments stubbornly refused to back down, resulting in hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money being wasted confetti-like, thrown to the wind.
Change
And the case does not necessarily mean the law will change, although it is thought the government will act - certainly the happy couple believe Parliament would do 'the right thing'.
A civil partnership as outlined in the 2004 legislation gives a couple the same legal protection as a marriage in terms of inheritance, tax, pensions and next-of-kin arrangements.
It also grants legal and financial protection in the event of a relationship ending.
The Supreme Court ruling on the eve of a new decade overturned a previous judgement in 2018 made by the Court of Appeal which rejected the couple’s claim.
And the judges, finding for the pair, said that current UK law as defined by the Civil Partnership Act was 'incompatible' with human rights laws on discrimination and in breach of the right to a private and family life.
Announcing the decision, Lord Kerr said the government did not seek to justify the difference in treatment between same-sex and mined-sex couples. “To the contrary, it accepts the difference cannot be justified.”
Speaking for the couple, from Hammersmith, Rebecca said, “We feel elated. But at the same time, we are feeling frustrated the government has wasted taxpayers’ money in fighting what the judges have called a blatant inequality.”
Legacy
The couple met in 2010 and have two children. They believe 'the legacy of marriage' which 'treated women as property for centuries' was not the way forward for them - instead they fought for a 'modern' possibility 'for people to express their love and commitment to one another'.
They explained, “We want to raise our children as equal partners and feel a civil partnership, a modern symmetrical institution, sets the best example for them.”
Veteran LGBT and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said the ruling was 'a victory for love and equality' and added: “It was never fair that same-sex couples had two options - civil partnerships and civil marriages - whereas opposite-sex partners had only one option, marriage.”
It is understood about 63,000 couples are in a civil partnership in the UK, while some 3.3 million are cohabiting couples; more than 130,000 people signed a petition to make civil partnerships available to all.
Rebecca and Charles’ lawyer, barrister Karin Monaghan QC told the court her clients had 'deep-rooted and ideological objections to marriage' and were 'not alone' in their stance.
Naturally, there was a happy ending for the couple. They returned to Chelsea Registry Office and left as civil partners after a short ceremony with their children, family and friends - over five years ago they were told such a move was impossible because they were not the same sex.