We reported here on the announcement that civil partnerships are to be extended to heterosexual couples in England and Wales, because as it stands the law doesn’t comply with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) on equality grounds.
The Scottish government is now asking the public for their views on the future of civil partnerships in Scotland. Two options are suggested in order to remove this discrimination:
- From a future date civil partnerships in Scotland will be abolished (the repeal option); or
- Civil partnerships will be opened up to opposite sex couples, so that every couple will be able to choose between marriage and civil partnership (the extension option).
The consultation runs until 21 December and you can contribute here.
The pros and cons of both options are set out in the consultation document, but it’s clear that the government backs option 2, the extension option. This option does seem more inclusive and equality campaigners have also backed it. Abolishing civil partnerships altogether would be like turning back the clock and would restrict choice for everyone. Extending civil partnerships would enable the law to keep pace with changing family structures and allow people to choose what suits them best – marriage, civil partnership or cohabitation (living together).
Before same-sex marriage was introduced in December 2014 around 500 couples entered into a civil partnership in Scotland each year. The numbers fell to about 70 in 2017 as more same-sex couples chose to get married – about 982 in the same year, although 127 of those were converting civil partnerships into marriages. As an aside, more women than men in same-sex relationships get married, and more men than women enter into civil partnerships.
However, although the demand for civil partnerships is low, there is still some demand and it’s very likely that there will be a reasonably significant number of opposite-sex couples who want to enter into a civil partnership rather than marry. It makes sense to extend the law to give them the freedom to do that.