When will gay marriage in the UK be introduced?
At the present time in the UK, whilst same-sex couples cannot marry they can enter into a civil partnership. Although in many ways this is similar to marriage in terms of the legal position, critics have long argued that marriage should be open to both same- sex as well as heterosexual couples.
The Netherlands was the first country to legalise same-sex marriage as long as 12 years ago. It was a move welcomed by the international gay rights groups as being a huge step forward in terms of ending discrimination and achieving equality.
Over the years others have followed suit and we are now up to 14 countries together with several US states where same-sex couples are legally able to marry. The pace of change across the world seems to be gathering momentum with France , New Zealand and Uruguay all introducing same-sex marriage in the last month alone.
So when will same-sex marriage be introduced in Britain? The current position is that in February 2013 MPs voted in favour of a bill to allow gay marriage. However it commonly takes some considerable time for proposed legislation to reach the statute book. The bill is now before the House of Lords but with many members being strongly opposed to the proposed change, it is by no means certain when same-sex marriage will be legalised.
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Paul Lancaster
