Congratulations are due to Alan Duncan, MP, the Conservative front bench spokesman on business, who today announced that he is engaged to be civilly partnered to his boyfriend, James Dunseath. The engagement was announced in (of all places) the Daily Telegraph. Conservative party leader, David Cameron, has promised to attend the ceremony. My, how the world has changed.
Some of my American friends will probably be muttering under their breath about how this is a disgraceful sham and that British gays should reject the half-way house of “civil partnerships” and hold out for the right to be married. Personally, as long as civil partnerships carry with them the same legal rights as religious marriages, I have no objection to them. Indeed, if I were ever in the position of being able to get married myself I would want to keep organized religion as far away from the procedure as possible. What I think we need, though, is a new word. I don’t ever want to have to write “engaged to be civilly partnered” again.
Engaged to be uncivilly partnered?
Plighted their troth?
Engaged to be paired?
Hmmm…
My ex-boyfriend maintains that all marriage should be a civil affair, with whatever religious services the couple choose as a separate and non legally binding frill. That always struck me as an elegant solution to the halfway house civil partnership thing. Of course it wouldn’t stop the controversy about whether a particular church will provide services to a particular couple, but then that becomes an entirely religious concern.
I’m with your ex there. I’ve also put something in my will about not allowing any religious ceremonies at my funeral, but I rather suspect that will get ignored.