First Day for Gay couples to 'tie the knot' (UK)

By Jodie Ginsberg

BELFAST (Reuters)

Hundreds of gay couples are preparing to make it official on Monday when they can apply for legal status under a new law allowing same-sex civil partnerships.

The law will give homosexual couples the same property and inheritance rights as married heterosexual couples and entitles them to the same pension, immigration and tax benefits.

After a two-week waiting period they will be able to legally register their partnerships for the first time.

For many of them, celebrations will be low-key.

"We're getting what we deserve," said Gary McKeever of The Rainbow Project, which provides information, education and training for gay and bisexual men in Northern Ireland, where the first partnerships will be registered on December 19.

"We have no plans to do anything spectacular. It's just going to be done in a dignified way," he added.

The usually flamboyant singer Elton John epitomises the fuss-free attitude many gay couples are adopting.

He and long-term partner David Furnish plan to tie the knot on December 21, the earliest possible date to do so in England.

"The ceremony will be very private, a small family affair, David's parents, my parents and the two of us. They'll be our witnesses," John told gay magazine Attitude.

NOT A MARRIAGE

Unlike those in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Canada, Britain's civil partnership is not a marriage.

Civil partnership is formed when a couple sign certain documents in an exclusively civil procedure, whereas a marriage becomes binding when partners exchange spoken words in a civil or religious ceremony.

Debra Reynolds, a registrar in Brighton -- Britain's unofficial gay capital -- says many homosexual couples have been together for decades and want a simple ceremony, even though a service is not compulsory.

"I would say 75 percent are keen to have one (a ceremony) ...but I would also say a lot of people are saying 'We don't want any fuss'," Reynolds told Reuters.

Nevertheless, the new legislation has given a boost to companies eager to attract the so-called "pink pound".

A full-scale gay wedding show in London this month offered 100 displays from chocolate fountains to fuchsia commitment stationery. Firms promoted his-and-his cufflinks and wedding cakes topped with two male figurines.

There has been little vocal opposition to the changes -- Elton John believes he and Furnish are "very lucky to live in Britain. I cannot think of a more tolerant place to live".

However, pockets of resistance to same-sex partnerships and to homosexuality remain, not least in Northern Ireland where.

"It's extremely significant and we're all happy about it (the new legislation) but we're not throwing our hands up in hysterics -- we'll leave it to the right wing elements in society to do that," Rainbow Project's McKeever said.

Homosexuality was legalised in Northern Ireland only in 1982 -- 15 years after England and Wales. At the time the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), run then, as now, by Protestant cleric Ian Paisley, ran a "Save Ulster from Sodomy" campaign.

The DUP, the province's largest political party, opposed the civil partnership legislation but says it supports equality. Gay rights groups, though, are sceptical.

Earlier this month a DUP councillor said God sent Hurricane Katrina to punish New Orleans for organising a gay pride event.

(Additional reporting by Paul Majendie in London)

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.

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garric said:

I don't believe that they should even get this right. The only reason the government rewards monetary benefits to married couple is because they will birth children (and further tax payers).

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CivGeneral said:

I would agree.

Its certanly a step in the direction of the immoral road. A man and a woman are the only ones that should "tie the knot". I am still standing by my belief that a marrage is defined as a union between a man and a woman. Its ovious that gays cannot reproduce for ovious biological reasons. I am mainly against gay marrages for religious reasons.

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CivGeneral said:

I can also extend my argument further that gay marrages will destroy the traditional meaning of marrage. After gay marrages, then people would start marrying animals and objects. To me a male and a female union marrage is acceptable while gay union marrage is not.

I remember back in 2000 that I was against gay marrages because it was disgusting. Now after reverting back into Christianity, my arguments have extended even further to biology and religious reasons. I know religious excuses wont cut it in a forum with a majority of non-belever athiests but I'll stick by them.

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CivGeneral said:

Gay people should not be alowed to adopt or have custody of children because of the safety of the child. My fear is that the child will be bullied because he or she has two mommies or two daddies. Also my fear is that they would make that child gay if they hang around them.

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CivGeneral said:

I can also extend my argument further that gay marrages will destroy the traditional meaning of marrage. After gay marrages, then people would start marrying animals and objects. To me a male and a female union marrage is acceptable while gay union marrage is not.

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I remember back in 2000 that I was against gay marrages because it was disgusting. Now after reverting back into Christianity, my arguments have extended even further to biology and religious reasons.

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Gay people should not be alowed to adopt or have custody of children because of the safety of the child. My fear is that the child will be bullied because he or she has two mommies or two daddies. Also my fear is that they would make that child gay if they hang around them.

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Or maybe now you equate homosexuality to paedophilia?

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MobBoss said:

The really sad thing is this: If this is "One of the best things this government has done" then this says a lot about the UK Government. They need to aim a bit higher I would think if a governments recent high water mark is that they gave gay people civil partnerships.

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