Late last night saw the House of Lords did something that many had begun to think would happen – vote in favour of civil partnerships being held in religious premises.

Passed by a majority of 74, the latest amendment to the Equality Bill, which was tabled by Lord Alli, gained cross party support, with both the former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Fowler and Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford voting in favour.

Speaking about the result of the vote, Stonewall’s Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said:

“This further step towards equality is a real victory for religious reason over those Church of England and Roman Catholic bishops who’ve tried to bully other denominations in recent weeks”

During the debate itself, Lord Allli, who is the only openly gay peers criticised those who had raised issues about the impact that the amendment would have on religious freedom saying:

“Religious freedom cannot begin and end with what one religion wants. It has to apply equally to the Quakers as it does to the Church of England and to the Liberal Jews as it does to the Catholic Church.”

The Government had opposed the amendment, however it did permit its backbenchers to a free vote following the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats offering the same, with the proposal being passed by 95 votes to 21 at just before 11pm.

Ben Summerskill also spoke out on the issue of religious freedom saying:

“We’ve argued throughout that this is an important matter of religious freedom. Ministers have known for some months that we intended to table this measure and we regret that the Government didn’t stand up to the bullying it faced from some churches on this issue. We’ll now work closely with ministers to ensure that we secure implementation of this further step towards equality. This vote is hugely important to those gay people of faith (and, as Lady Neuberger pointed out, to their Jewish mothers too!) who wish to celebrate their civil partnerships in their own place of worship.”

Whilst there has been criticism from religious bodies and figures, including the Pope, both the Quakers and Liberal Jews have been denominations that have acted to supported the amendment.

Marking a huge step forward for a country that has long seen the government influenced by the Roman Catholic opposition to homosexuality, this bill would act to give gay and lesbian couples not only the right to have their relationships legally recognised, but would also ensure that they are entitled to financial support from each other as well as make claims on the others property should they split up.

What however is not covered in this first draft is any legal recognition of any relationship between the children of one partner and the other partner. The bill would also not allow couples to jointly adopt children.

The Justice Minister Dermot Ahern has said that the bill marks a big step forward for a country that until 1993 categorised homosexuality as a criminal offence, saying that to not have it in place “only helps to reinforce prejudice in our society.”

The bill, in this current state has however been met with criticism by the LGBT community and religious groups, with many gay rights groups angered that it does not give equal civil marriage rights, whilst religious groups and some lawmakers want a “freedom of conscience” amendment that allows those who offer wedding services, such as hotels and wedding photographers, to deny their services to gays planning their civil partnerships.

Ahern has said that the latter amendment will not be included because it violates the 2004 anti-discrimination laws and expects to see the law passed this month thanks to the strong backing of opposition parties.

Stonewall, the gay rights charity, has announced that it is seeking to add an amendment to the Equality Bill that would allow same sex couples to have their civil partnership ceremonies within religious buildings.

Acting to give ministers of religion the option to preside over ceremonies, the amendment wouldn’t however make it complusory to do so, but would act to lift the ban that was placed on having civil partnership ceremonies  in religious buildings in the 2005 civil partnership legislation.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, said that the charity was already working alongside the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement (LGCM) and the Metropolitan Community Church to get the amendment tabled, and is hopeful that it will be met with support from other faiths, such as the Quakers who have been very positive in their support for gay rights, going as far as to vote to hold gay marriages as opposed to civil partnerships.

Speaking to the Pink News, Summerskill said he was optimistic about the chances of getting the amendment tabled, and though he recognised there were likely to be issues in the House of Lords, he said “We are very clear that this is an issue of religious freedom and if faiths want to celebrate the ceremonies of two men or two women, it’s not for someone else to say you can’t do that.”

Highlighting he wasn’t pushing for faiths to be forced into holding civil partnerships now, Summerskill did indicate that he was hopefully that this would happen in the next couple of decades, attributing much of the need for the amendment to be done to the fact that the original prohibition rather naively believed that same sex couples wouldn’t be religious.  Reverend Sharon Ferguson of the LGCM also reinforced this argument stating “As far as I know, civil partnerships are really good in that they give us legal protection. But they do not give equality. Lesbian and gay people can only have a civil ceremony but heterosexual people have the choice.

“I’m not bothered about calling civil partnerships marriage – that’s just semantics. I want to see equality in that any body registered and licenced to conduct a marriage can also conduct a civil partnership. And any building registered to conduct a marriage can also conducted a civil partnership.”

The amendment is likely to be made when the bill is moved before the House of Lords which could happen either before or after Christmas.

Photo by Charlie Dave.