Britain legalizes gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gives approval

[Faygo Kid]

Source: Associated Press

London — Britain on Wednesday legalized gay marriage after Queen Elizabeth II gave her royal stamp of approval, clearing the way for the first same-sex weddings next summer.

Lawmakers cheered as House of Commons Speaker John Bercow said royal assent had been given — one day after the bill to legalize same-sex marriage in England and Wales cleared Parliament.

The queen’s approval was a formality and is the last step necessary for a bill to become law.

The law enables gay couples to get married in both civil and religious ceremonies in England and Wales, although the Church of England is barred from conducting same-sex unions. It also will allow couples who had previously entered into civil partnerships — which carry similar rights and responsibilities to marriage — to convert their relationships to marriage. . .

Read more: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130717/NATION/307170077/1361/Britain-legalizes-gay-marriage-after-Queen-Elizabeth-II-gives-approval

---

Well, what more can I say than God Save the Queen (no double entendre intended). Congrats, Britain.

[think]

1. Bravo

[MotherPetrie]

2. K&R

[Beacool]

3. Good job by Parliament and the Queen.

[Glorfindel]

4. "La Reyne le veult!" May God bless and keep Her Majesty and her Lords and Commons...

and all the good people of the "sceptr'd isle." For some reason, this makes me happier than the recent US Supreme Court's decisions.

[Socal31]

5. Oh how wonderful it is!

How wonderful it is to read about PROGRESS on a progressive board in the morning.


Cheers

[awoke_in_2003]

6. K&R. nt

[SemperEadem]

7. God Save the Queen!

Well done, madame.

"Dieu et mon droit", for sure.

[big_dog]

8. well done your majesty!

jolly good

[AnnieBW]

9. God/dess Save the Queen!

All of them that are gonna get legally married now!

[nomorenomore08]

10. What about Scotland and Northern Ireland? Just asking...

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Scotland is doing this too, with its own bill

Scotland has always had a separate legal system (eg it used to have a lower age for marrying without parental consent - hence couples running off to get married at Gretna Green, the first village across the border from England), and with its own parliament, they're responsible for things like this. They actually proposed it before England did, but it's taken longer to get through the process (surprising, since they have only one House in the parliament).

Scotland's gay marriage bill published, with more freedoms for celebrants

The bill to legalise same sex marriages in Scotland has now been published, and while it has arrived later than hoped and expected, Holyrood will introduce a more open, flexible regime than the new equal marriage laws in England and Wales.
...
The Westminster legislation explicitly bans the Anglican Church of England and Church in Wales from offering same sex ceremonies; the Scottish legislation has no such measure.
...
And in Scotland, the tradition of having more liberal rules on who can officiate at a marriage – to include humanist celebrants and Muslim clerics for instance, has been extended to allow humanists to officiate in lesbian and gay marriages.
...
There were signs of significant nerves within Alex Salmond's administration when it confronted the intense hostility of the Catholic church in particular.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/scotland-blog/2013/jun/27/scotland-gay-marriage-bill

It should make it through OK - as the article says, most MSPs have already said they're in favour, and all the significant party leaders are in favour.

As for Northern Ireland - I suspect they won't get it for some time. Religion still influences both unionist and nationalist politicians there heavily (which is why abortion is still extremely restricted there - it's basically only to save the life of the woman). For same sex marriage, the nationalist parties did try to get an act through (so on this, they're ignoring the Catholic church), but the unionists defeated it:

Unionist politicians have defeated a Sinn Féin bid to create marriage equality for gay couples in Northern Ireland. The votes of the Democratic Unionist party and Ulster Unionist party in the Stormont Assembly helped defeat a Sinn Féin motion backed by the SDLP, Alliance and the Green party.

But their defeat of the proposed bill sets the scene for a legal challenge in both the British and European courts against the continued ban on gay marriage in part of the UK.

Amnesty International today repeated a warning first made in the Guardian last month that the prospect of a a gay couple taking a legal case to the European Court of Human Rights is now a distinct possibility.
...
A total of 95 members of the Assembly voted: 42 in favour, including all the nationalists. Three unionists out of 50 voted yes, as did former Ulster Unionists Basil McCrea and John McCallister.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/apr/29/northern-ireland-gay-marriage-bill-fails