UK civil partnerships reach 10-year milestone

This weekend marks 10 years since civil partnerships were legally introduced across the United Kingdom.

Pink News reports Northern Ireland’s Grainne Close and Sharon Sickles were the first couple to take advantage of the legislative changes introduced by the then-Blair Government, when they entered into a civil partnership in Belfast on December 19, 2005.

Opting to recognise their relationship in a separate institution to marriage, the couple who are still together, are also now at the heart of a Northern Ireland High Court fight to recognise same-sex marriage.

Across the past decade, some 140,000 couples have entered into a civil partnership, with more than 9,000 same-sex couples also marrying, adds BBC News.

When the Civil Partnership Act was passed by UK Parliament 10 years ago with cross-party parliamentary support, gay couples across the country were instantly granted many of the same legal and civil rights as their heterosexual counterparts.

Among these changes, gay couples are since recognised under tax law inclusive of home ownership and business affairs, and also have joint parental rights with their children.

Gay couples can also no longer be removed from hospital rooms where their partner is a patient.

The BBC reported back in 2007 Blair said he was proud of his achievements across gay rights, with the reforms providing a “civilising effect” reaching beyond the gay community.

“What has happened is that the culture of the country has changed in a definable way as a result of it. This is what I think is really interesting,” he said at the time.

“The change in culture and the civilising effect of it has gone far greater than the gay and lesbian community.”