Is Marriage Discrimination Illegal?

As you no doubt know, the law around who can be married or become civil partners has been changing in recent years.

• In the UK, you can now enter into a civil partnership with someone of the opposite sex.
• In Northern Ireland, you can now marry someone of the same sex, or enter into a civil partnership with someone of the opposite sex.

This means that more people are now protected by anti-discrimination legislation.

Mixed-sex civil partnership

Traditionally, men and women would get married when they want to make a commitment to each other for life. But not everyone wants to be married. Maybe they object to the institution’s patriarchal associations, or perhaps they’ve been married before and want a different option.

Here’s how the change came about:

Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan had a “conscientious objection” to marriage, because they wanted to formalise their relationship in “a more modern way, with a focus on equality and mutual respect”. 

Five years ago, they started a legal battle for the right to a heterosexual civil partnership. 

In 2018, the Supreme Court concluded that the law was discriminatory because it breached their right to a family and private life. So, in December 2019, the couple were delighted to celebrate their civil partnership ceremony at Kensington and Chelsea Register Office. 

Same-sex marriage

The Love Equality group spent five years campaigning on behalf of marriage equality for LGBT+ people.

Last year, the UK Government backed the plan to extend same-sex marriage rights to Northern Ireland, and the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 was duly amended.

If you’re a same-sex couple in a civil partnership, you won’t yet be able to convert it into a marriage. If you’re a same-sex couple who is already married, that will now be legally recognised in Northern Ireland. For example:

Danielle Doherty and Emma Bradley live in Londonderry. They wanted to get married, but had to do it in County Donegal in 2019. They are thrilled that their marriage is now legally recognised in their home city.

Common law marriage

It’s important to be aware that there is no such thing as a ‘common law marriage’. If you are living together, you do not have the same rights as couples who are married or in a civil partnership. This can leave you at risk, because it impacts issues such as property ownership, inheritance and tax.

A bit of background

Here are some of the key milestones:

• In 2005, civil partnerships were introduced to give same-sex couples almost identical rights as marriage.
• Same-sex marriages became legal in England, Scotland and Wales in 2014.
• In December 2019, mixed-sex couples in England and Wales became able to enter a civil partnership. There are 3.3 million co-habiting heterosexual couples in the UK, and the Government predicts that up to 84,000 of them could opt to become civil partners this year
• Same-sex marriages and mixed-sex civil partnerships became legal in Northern Ireland in January 2020. Couple have to indicate their intention to marry 28 days in advance, so the first same-sex weddings are expected in the week of Valentine’s day.
• The Scottish Parliament is currently working on the Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill to allow mixed-sex partnerships in Scotland.
• The Northern Ireland Office will start a consultation later this year about the role of the Church in same-sex marriages, and about whether/how to convert civil partnerships into marriages 

What this means to you

It’s illegal for your employer to discriminate against you because you’re married or in a civil partnership. You mustn’t be disadvantaged or treated badly because of your marital status, nor treated any differently than your colleagues.

If that happens, please give us a call as you may have a claim for discrimination or harassment.

Further reading

For more information on this subject, you might find our other articles useful:

• Marriage & civil partnership 

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