STRAIGHT COUPLE FIGHTS FOR CIVIL PARTNERSHIPS

In an unusual turn of events, a straight couple in the UK is fighting for the right to enter into a civil partnership, which is currently limited to same-sex couples.

Tom Freeman and Katherine Doyle plan to challenge the ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships, by filing an application at Islington Registry Office in London on Tuesday.

They said that the denial of civil partnerships to heterosexual couples is “discriminatory and perpetuates legal inequality.”

“All loving couples should have access to the same institutions, regardless of sexuality. There should be parity of respect and rights, said 25 year old Freeman.

Doyle, also 25, added: “Just as gay couples should be able to have a civil marriage, civil partnerships should be available to straight couples who don’t like the institution of marriage.”

British gay rights activist Peter Tatchell of OutRage! has expressed his support for the couple’s action and said that he will accompany them when they apply for the civil partnership next week.

Under UK law, same-sex couples are banned from marriage and heterosexual couples are banned from civil partnerships, called civil unions in South Africa. Unlike in the UK however, civil unions in South Africa are open to all couples, as is marriage.

“In a democratic society, we should all be equal under the law. The ban on same-sex civil marriage and on opposite-sex civil partnerships is a form of sexual apartheid – one law for straight couples and another law for heterosexual partners. Two wrongs don’t make a right,” said Tatchell.