The Government has published its “next steps” policy paper on implementing equal civil partnership. In a guest post, Russell Sandberg looks at some of its implications. 

For a legal status which has existed for just fifteen years, the law concerning civil partnerships and religion has had a turbulent and somewhat confusing history. This blog post briefly recaps the story so far before looking at the Government Equalities Office’s ‘next steps’ policy paper on implementing opposite sex civil partnerships.

The story so far

Originally, civil partnerships lived up to their name and were civil in nature. Much of the Civil Partnership Act 2004 used the template of civil marriage and this was especially true in what it said about religion. Civil partnerships could not be religious. Continue reading →