UK government asks the world to recognise British same-sex marriages

The UK government has asked over 70 countries worldwide to clarify the rights that British gay people have abroad.

Equalities Minister Jo Swinson has requested that countries including the US, Italy, Israel and Australia tell the UK government how safe it is for British gay married couples to visit their countries.

“One of the things we committed to do in the coalition agreement is recognising that for gay people who are in a civil partnership or now have got married, and who are travelling, working or studying abroad, for them to know what their rights are in that country and ideally to have their partnership or marriage recognised would make a big difference,” Swinson told The Guardian.

She went on to argue that although there are many countries with “dreadful” views on LGBT people, those with a “more positive” approach have no valid reason to not recognise British same-sex marriages.

“They obviously make a degree of local judgment about when is the right time to raise these issues. Sad to say, there are plenty of countries where LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] rights are in a dreadful state and the people in those countries themselves suffer greatly, and I’m not going to have rose-tinted specs to think that those countries are going to rush to recognise our same-sex marriages.

“But there are plenty of countries that do have a much more positive approach, and there’s no reason why they shouldn’t recognise our partnerships,” she added.

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