The pictures removed from a register office in case they upset gays taking their vows
A TRADITIONAL portrait of a bride and groom has been taken down at a register office for fear of offending homosexual couples.
Instead, £3,500 has been spent replacing it and another picture with landscapes.
Pictures of newlyweds signing the register and another showing Romeo and Juliet embracing on a swing have been removed from Liverpool Register Office’s wedding room.
In their place are two large turn- of- thecentury landscapes by David Murray, titled Meadow Sweet and River Road.
They were acquired from the city’s Walker art gallery and cost £3,500 to restore.
The change in decor was made to ensure same- sex couples, who will effectively be allowed to ‘ marry’ for the first time next month in new civil partnership ceremonies, feel comfortable in the room.
Superintendent registrar Janet Taubman said: ‘We had two very beautiful pictures up before but they would be unsuitable for the new services.
‘They were innocent pictures but the new paintings are less likely to offend same- sex couples.’
Carole Codd, one of the staff members who chose the replacements, added: ‘The landscape fits in because it’s neutral and it’s very difficult for people not to like a landscape. They also don’t point to one particular ceremony.’
Yesterday gay rights groups and gay couples themselves said there had been no need for such a change.
Hotel worker Hamilton de Oliveira 38, and his partner Kevin Smith, 52, were among the first gay couples to have a commitment ceremony at the register office in July.
‘Getting married is a personal thing,’ said Mr Smith, a holistic therapist from Liverpool. ‘ A painting has nothing to do with it, so putting a landscape up is ludicrous.
‘ The paintings in the register office shouldn’t make a scrap of difference, whether the couple are gay or straight.’
Mike Homfray, of the Merseyside Gay and Lesbian Forum, called the decision ‘ridiculous’.
‘ This is the 21st century and I’m not offended by a painting of a married couple.’ But he added: ‘ I do support what the register office is trying to do.’
Tris Reid- Smith, editor of the Pink paper, a news magazine for homosexuals, said: It’s a complete waste of money and a travesty to remove a perfectly good painting.
‘I am not in any way offended by a painting of a heterosexual couple. Gay people are not put off by heterosexual couples getting married.’
The Government has spent more than £ 30,000 on raising awareness of the Civil Partnership Act, which becomes law on December 5.
It will allow gay and lesbian couples to register their partnership before a registrar and witnesses for the first time.
As a result, they will be regarded as a married couple for the purposes of pensions, benefits and tax including inheritance tax on a partner’s home, and granting next- of-kin rights in hospitals.
While the Act does not use the term gay marriage, the partnerships mirror existing marriages and can be dissolved in a form of divorce.
The first ceremonies will be held on December 21.
Twenty gay couples have already made provisional bookings at Liverpool. A register office spokesman said the paintings had been moved to a reception area.
‘ The paintings were in the register office’s wedding room, but this has undergone a revamp,’ he added.
‘ Because the office now also performs naming ceremonies, civil partnerships and commitment ceremonies, the wedding room has been renamed “ the ceremony suite” and it needed some more general pictures.’
l.hull@dailymail.co.uk