Same-sex marriage is legal in all parts of the United Kingdom. As marriage is a devolved legislative matter, different parts of the United Kingdom legalised at different times; it has been recognised and performed in England and Wales since March 2014, in Scotland since December 2014, and in Northern Ireland since January 2020. Civil partnerships, which offer most, but not all, of the rights and benefits of marriage, have been recognised since 2005. The United Kingdom was the sixteenth country in Europe and the 27th in the world to allow same-sex couples to marry nationwide. Polling suggests that a majority of British people support the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.
Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in England and Wales was passed by the House of Commons on a 366–161 vote on 21 May 2013. It passed its final stages in the Parliament of the United Kingdom in July 2013 and took effect on 13 March 2014. The first same-sex marriages took place on 29 March 2014. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland was passed by the Scottish Parliament in February 2014 and took effect on 16 December 2014. The first marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples previously in civil partnerships occurred on 16 December. The first marriage ceremonies for couples not in civil partnerships occurred on 31 December 2014. Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in July 2019 and took effect on 13 January 2020. The first same-sex marriage ceremony took place on 11 February 2020.
Same-sex marriage is legal in eight of the fourteen British Overseas Territories. It has been recognised in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands since 2014, Akrotiri and Dhekelia and the British Indian Ocean Territory (for UK military personnel only) since 3 June 2014, the Pitcairn Islands since 14 May 2015, the British Antarctic Territory since 13 October 2016, Gibraltar since 15 December 2016, the Falkland Islands since 29 April 2017, and Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha since 20 December 2017.Same-sex marriage became progressively legal in Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. It has been legal in Ascension Island since 1 January 2017, in Tristan da Cunha since 4 August 2017 and in Saint Helena since 20 December 2017. Same-sex marriage was formerly legal in Bermuda from 2017 to 2022, where domestic partnerships have been available to same-sex couples since 1 June 2018. Civil partnerships were legalised in the Cayman Islands on 4 September 2020.
Same-sex marriage is legal in the Crown Dependencies. It has been recognised and performed in the Isle of Man since 22 July 2016, in Jersey since 1 July 2018, and in the Bailiwick of Guernsey at different times: in Guernsey since 2 May 2017, in Alderney since 14 June 2018, and in Sark since 23 April 2020.
Background
Early legal history In common law, a marriage between persons of the same sex was void ab initio. In 1680, Arabella Hunt married "James Howard"; in 1682 the marriage was annulled on the ground that Howard was in fact Amy Poulter, a "perfect woman in all her parts", and two women could not validly marry. On 30 March 1834, Anne Lister and Ann Walker were married at the Holy Trinity Church on Goodramgate in York, and thereafter considered themselves married, but without legal recognition. The church has been described as "an icon for what is interpreted as the site of the first lesbian marriage to be held in Britain", and the building now hosts a commemorative blue plaque. The couple lived together at Shibden Hall until Lister's death in 1840. In 1866, in Hyde v Hyde and Woodmansee (a case of polygamy), Lord Penzance's judgment began: "Marriage as understood in Christendom is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others."
In Talbot (otherwise Poyntz) v Talbot in 1967, the prohibition was held to extend where one spouse was a post-operative transsexual, with Justice Roger Ormrod stating: "Marriage is a relationship which depends on sex, not on gender". The Nullity of Marriage Act 1971 explicitly banned marriages between same-sex couples in England and Wales. The parliamentary debates on the 1971 act included discussion on the issue of transsexualism but not homosexuality.
The 1971 act was later replaced by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, which also declared that a marriage was void if the parties were not respectively male and female. Subsection (c), before its repeal, read "that the parties are not respectively male and female;". Prohibition of same-sex marriages was also included in the marriage legislation of Scotland and Northern Ireland. The Marriage Order (Northern Ireland) 2003 stated there was a legal impediment to marriage if the parties were of the same sex, but the Marriage (Same-sex Couples) and Civil Partnership (Opposite-sex Couples) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2019 removed this provision. The Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 had a similar legal impediment, but following the passage of the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014, Scots law no longer prohibits marriage if both parties are of the same sex. Article 6. Subsection (6)(e), before its repeal, read "both parties are of the same sex." On 17 July 2013, royal assent was granted to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. On 10 December 2013, Her Majesty's Government announced that the first same-sex marriages in England and Wales would take place from 29 March 2014.
Civil partnerships
Civil partnerships, created by the Civil Partnership Act 2004, grant same-sex couples most of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. The law came into effect in December 2005. These partnerships were called "gay marriages" by some of the British media; however, the government made clear that they were not marriages. Before this, an informal London Partnership Register had been set up in 2001 by the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, but without any legal recognition.
Since Section 9 of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 took effect, any couple registered in a civil partnership is granted the ability to convert that partnership into a marriage.
Wilkinson v Kitzinger and Others
On 26 August 2003, Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson, both British university professors, legally married in British Columbia, Canada. However, on their return their marriage was not recognised under British law. Under the subsequent Civil Partnership Act, it was converted into a civil partnership. The couple sued for recognition of their marriage, arguing that it was legal in the country in which it was executed and met the requirements for recognition of overseas marriages and should thus be treated in the same way as one between opposite-sex couples. They rejected the conversion of their marriage into a civil partnership believing it to be both practically and symbolically a lesser substitute. They were represented by civil rights group Liberty. The group's legal director James Welch said it was a matter of fairness and equality for the couple's marriage to be recognised and that they "shouldn't have to settle for the second-best option of a civil partnership".
The High Court announced its judgement on 31 July 2006, ruling that their union would not be granted marriage status and would continue to be recognised in England and Wales as a civil partnership. The president of the Family Division, Sir Mark Potter, gave as his reason that "abiding single sex relationships are in no way inferior, nor does English Law suggest that they are by according them recognition under the name of civil partnership", and that marriage was an "age-old institution" which, he suggested, was by "longstanding definition and acceptance" a relationship between a man and a woman. He agreed with the couple's claim that they were being discriminated against by the Civil Partnership Act 2004, but considered that "To the extent that by reason of that distinction it discriminates against same-sex partners, such discrimination has a legitimate aim, is reasonable and proportionate, and falls within the margin of appreciation accorded to Convention States." Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, as second respondent, sought £25,000 in legal costs from the couple, which the High Court ordered them to pay.
Wilkinson and Kitzinger said they were "deeply disappointed" with the judgement, not just for themselves, but for "lesbian and gay families across the nation". They said that "denying our marriage does nothing to protect heterosexual marriage, it simply upholds discrimination and inequality" and also said that the ruling insulted LGBT people and treats their relationships as inferior to heterosexual ones; not worthy of marriage but only of an "expressly different, and entirely separate institution". They said, however, that they believed the judgement "won't stand the test of time" and that they looked forward to the day when "there is full equality in marriage". They had originally announced their intention to appeal the decision but later abandoned it due to lack of funds. Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said that the establishment's aggressive opposition to same-sex marriage and the successful demand of £25,000 from the couple damaged the government's "gay-friendly credentials". He also claimed that the demand in legal costs was designed to damage the couple financially so they would not be able to appeal. He said he was "angry but not downcast" about the ruling and that this was only a temporary setback in the "long struggle for marriage equality".
Debate
Campaign groups Equal Marriage, a campaign for same-sex marriage in Scotland, was established by the Equality Network in 2008, with a focus on securing same-sex marriage and different-sex civil partnerships in Scotland. In England and Wales, the first major campaign for same-sex marriage was Equal Love established by Peter Tatchell in 2010. The first major campaign against same-sex marriage in Britain was Scotland for Marriage established in 2011, followed by the Coalition for Marriage in England and Wales in 2012. Subsequent campaigns for and against same-sex marriage have been established by a wide variety of organisations, including the Coalition for Equal Marriage and Out4Marriage, both established in England in 2012. In Northern Ireland, a campaign for full same-sex marriage was established by LGBT rights activist and political campaigner Gary Spedding in June 2012 with the specific goal of challenging social attitudes whilst lobbying the Northern Ireland Assembly to enact legislation to permit same-sex marriages.
Political parties During the run-up to the 2010 general election, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said that a Conservative government would be happy to "consider the case" for ending the ban on same-sex marriage, although he was criticised for not making any specific promises. On 4 May 2010, the party published a "Contract for Equalities" which said it would "consider" recognising civil partnerships as marriages if elected.
In April 2010, Minister for Equality Harriet Harman from the Labour Party, when asked about same-sex marriage, said the issue was a "developing area" and that the government still had a "long way to go" with LGBT rights. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the government did not allow same-sex marriage because it was "intimately bound up with questions of religious freedom". During the 2010 Labour leadership election campaign, each of the Labour candidates expressed their support for reform to lead to the recognition of same-sex marriage. Following Ed Miliband's victory, it became Labour party policy, with the party welcoming Her Majesty's Government's consultation and calling for legislation to be brought forth as soon as possible.