‘Civil partnerships were introduced by the New Labour government in the UK in 2005 to give same-sex couples many of the protections and rights afforded to married couples without actually extending the right to marry. In 2014 same-sex couples were granted the right to marry but the civil partnership status was not revoked. This created a clear inequality: Same-sex couples could choose to marry or to enter into a civil partnership, but the only way that different-sex couples could formalise their relationship was through marriage. In Steinfeld and Keidan, R (on the application of) v Secretary of State for International Development (in substitution for the Home Secretary and the Education Secretary) [2018] UKSC 32 the UK Supreme Court held that this differential treatment was contrary to Art 14 (the prohibition of discrimination) when taken in conjunction with Art 8 (the right to respect for family life) under the European Convention on Human Rights.’
Oxford Human Rights Hub, 2nd July 2018
Source: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk
