Lesbians fail to have "marriage" recognised in UK

LONDON, Aug 1: A lesbian couple lost a legal battle to have their Canadian marriage legally recognised in Britain.

In a ruling at London's High Court, the judge yesterday said giving legal recognition to gay marriages would ''fail to recognise physical reality.'' Mark Potter, one of Britain's leading family judges, dismissed a bid by Sue Wilkinson, 52, and Celia Kitzinger, 49 -- who married in British Columbia in August 2003 -- to have their union recognised in Britain, saying the marriage of a man and a woman was different to a same-sex partnership.

''It is apparent that the majority of people, or at least of governments, not only in England but Europe-wide, regard marriage as an age-old institution, valued and valuable, respectable and respected, as a means not only of encouraging monogamy but also the procreation of children ... in a family unit in which both maternal and paternal influences are available,'' the judge said.

''Abiding single sex relationships are in no way inferior, nor does English law suggest that they are by according them recognition under the name of civil partnership.'' New laws which came into effect in Britain last year gave same-sex couples legal status through ''civil partnerships''.

But unlike those in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Canada, Britain's same-sex civil partnership is not a marriage.

Lawyers for the couple argued during the case that their Canadian marriage should not be ''downgraded'' to what they considered the ''lesser substitute'' of a civil partnership.

The couple, who have been together for 16 years, claimed their marriage was valid under the European Convention of Human Rights.

The judge said he understood their feelings, but insisted heterosexual marriages and same-sex partnerships were not the same thing.

''Parliament has not called partnerships between persons of the same-sex marriage, not because they are considered inferior to the institution of marriage but because, as a matter of objective fact and common understanding ... they are indeed different,'' Potter said.

REUTERS