The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill has completed its historic journey through Parliament and received Royal Assent on 17th July, officially making it law.
According to Women and Equalities Minister, Maria Miller, the first same sex wedding could take place by as early as summer 2014.
The Act, which applies to England and Wales, will:
- allow same sex couples to marry in civil ceremonies,
- allow same sex couples to marry in religious ceremonies, where the religious organisation has ‘opted in’ to conduct such ceremonies and the minister of religion agrees,
- protect those religious organisations and their representatives who don’t wish to conduct marriages of same sex couples from successful legal challenge,
- enable civil partners to convert their partnership to a marriage, if they wish, and
- enable married individuals to change their legal gender without having to end their marriage.
The Scottish Government introduced its own legislation to allow same-sex marriage, the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, to the Scottish Parliament on 26th June, where it is now undergoing scrutiny by MSPs.
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