Civil Partnerships

Congratulations to Shannon Sickles and Grainne Close the first gay couple in the UK to have a civil partnership ceromony. It's not a wedding, gay and lesbian couples still cannot marry in this country.

I can't understand why this right should be denied to same sex couples. OK so most religious groups claim that marriage should be only be between a man and a woman but no one will be forcing the churches to hold or bless the civil partnerships or host gay marriages. But in a country that is now almost completely secular why should the religous right seek to ensure that the gay couples are denied any access to marriage. Marriage has not been the sole preserve of the churches for a long time now with the option of civil weddings being there.

The bigots claim that allowing gays to marry will damage the institute of marriage. How? I for one, am not going to suddenly change my mind about being hetrosexual just because civil partnerships are now legal and I don't think many other people are either. If marriage is about two people who want to make a public commitment to each other then surely the more people who can marry the stronger the concept will be.