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Homosexuals 'waiting for full marriage rights'
Practice area: Family Law
A gay rights campaigner has attributed the decline in the number of civil partnerships in Britain to growing demand for legal equality.
This week, official figures revealed that in the last year, the number of civil ceremonies in Britain has dropped by nearly a fifth to 7,169.
According to activist Peter Tatchell, this is partly because a growing number of people are waiting for greater changes in
family law to be made, which would give them the same rights as heterosexual couples.
"Initially most were ready to settle for civil partnerships," he commented.
"Now the mood is shifting in favour of full legal equality."
He added that the drop is also because there was a "huge surge" in the number of couples seeking to take advantage of their new legal rights following the implementation of the Civil Partnership Act 2004.
This, he stated, means that the take-up of civil partnerships has reached a more steady level in subsequent years.
Similar views were expressed by Ben Summerskill of Stonewall, who told Pink News it is not surprising that a "natural stabilising" in the rate of civil partnerships has taken place.
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