Excellent news for religious same-sex couples

10.15.00am GMT Wed 3rd Mar 2010

Good news for religious gay and bisexual people

Delga welcomes last night's vote by the House of Lords voted to amend and improve the law on Civil Partnerships. The change means that Civil Partnership ceremonies will be able to be held in religious venues, and may include religious language. The amendment was supported by 25 Liberal Democrat peers, with no Lib Dem opposition; a majority of Tory peers voted against the amendment, and Labour's support was not unanimous.

Delga executive member Jen Yockney said, "While not all interpretations of all religions recognise same-sex couples on a similar basis to mixed-sex couples, some such as Quakers, Unitarians and liberal Judaism do and have indicated they would welcome being able to conduct civil partnership ceremonies within the faith. Until now the law has prevented that from happening in churches, synagogues and other such religious venues.

"It's excellent news that - assuming the House of Commons approves the change - gay and bisexual people of faith will have the option for a civil partnership ceremony that reflects their religious beliefs.

"Of course, we don't feel this amendment goes far enough. Until we have the Marriage Without Borders called for by Nick Clegg, we cannot claim that same-sex couples are truly equal."