Kristen Zanoni  |  October 27, 2020

Category: Civil Rights

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A male same-sex couple toasts with champagne at their wedding - civil partnerships

A new Northern Ireland law will allow same-sex couples to transform their civil partnerships into lawful marriages.

Beginning on 7 December 2020, same-sex civil partnerships can become legal marriages, according to Gay Star News.

In the U.K., same-sex civil partnerships became legal in England, Scotland and Wales in 2014, but the decision has been long-awaited in Northern Ireland, which did not pass marriage equality laws until 2019; it lagged behind while its politicians were in disagreement over the laws, according to Gay Star News. 

Now, after a six-week consultation over marriage rights in Northern Ireland, any couples in civil partnerships have a three-year period to consider turning the partnership into a recognised marriage.

Furthermore, the fee for turning civil partnerships into a marriage will be waived, Gay Star News reported.

If couples in civil partnerships make the change, the marriage will be backdated and the law will go into action from the date the civil partnership was entered into. Gay Star News reports there are over 1,300 civil partnerships in Northern Ireland that could be recognized as legal marriages.

According to the BBC, married opposite-sex couples will be able to do the reverse and convert their marriages into civil partnerships. 

The first marriage-equality laws allowing same-sex marriages took effect in January, but they did not include the ability to turn existing civil partnerships into marriages, the BBC reported. Same-sex couples were able to participate in religious marriages as of September.

“A couple will be able to give notice of their intent to form a same-sex marriage to the registrar in their local district council from” 1 September, the NI Direct government services website says. “The minimum notice period is 28 days.”

Northern Ireland Office minister Robin Walker says Northern Ireland has kept its promises to fulfill same-sex marriages and civil partnerships.

Gold wedding bands lie next to a person signing a marriage document - civil partnerships“It is right that all couples in Northern Ireland now have access to the equivalent legal relationships and associated rights, protections and entitlements, as couples living in the rest of the U.K., and I am pleased that we have been able to bring forward the necessary regulations to make this possible,” Walker said, according to the BBC.

Walker added that any additional changes in civil partnership and same-sex marriage laws would be in the hands of the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly.

Amnesty International said Northern Ireland’s civil partnership laws were “the last stage in achieving full marriage equality,” according to the BBC. Finance Minister Conor Murphy added the move was a “huge step forward for marriage equality.”

Amnesty International Northern Ireland director Patrick Corrigan published a statement expressing the organisation’s elation with the law. 

“This law change is the final piece of the jigsaw in bringing marriage equality to Northern Ireland,” Corrigan said.

“It’s a huge day of celebration,” he added. “We fought to change the law so it would cherish all couples and all families equally and now we have achieved that — first with civil marriage, then religious marriage and now finally, with civil partnership conversion.

“We want to thank all our supporters at Westminster and Stormont, including Ministers and officials, who helped us to deliver this change. And to all the couples, their families, friends and the wider community in Northern Ireland who gave this campaign unstoppable momentum — this win is yours.”

And Cara McCann, member of the Love Equality coalition and director of HereNI, an advocacy organisation for lesbian and bisexual women, expressed relief over the law.

“It is such a relief to get the last element of marriage equality legislation over the line,” she said in Amnesty International’s statement. “This means that people in civil partnerships, like my partner Amanda and I, can finally become the married couple we have always wanted to be. This change means so much to so many people here, as we can finally see that the law respects our relationships as equal.”

Will you turn your civil partnership into a legal marriage now that the law allows? Share your thoughts with us in the comments.

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