As many of you will be aware, there has recently
been a very welcome change in the law. This will allow gay and lesbian couples
in Scotland to officially register their partnership, with the first civil
partnership ceremonies taking place on December 21st 2005.
I feel in light of this change that it is our
duty, as the largest Pagan organisation in Scotland involved in celebrancy,
to keep the community informed of what these changes mean.
There are two distinct types of marriage in
Scotland - religious and civil. PF ScotlandŐs approved celebrants can only
perform religious marriages. We receive a license - the marriage schedule
- from the local registrar for each marriage to allow us to do this.
All civil marriages, which may only be held
in a registry office or certain other registered civil buildings, are performed
by registrars who are employed by the local councils - no religious content
is allowed in a civil ceremony, with even the music having to be very carefully
chosen to avoid religious themes.
Civil partnership falls into a similar category
to civil marriage. It is not legally a form of marriage, despite headlines
to that effect in the press, but it does convey certain rights and responsibilities
to couples that are similar to some of those conveyed by marriage.
Because the civil partnership ceremony is a
civil ceremony, our celebrants are not allowed, by law, to carry these out,
nor are celebrants from any other religious group. They must be performed
by a council-employed registrar, and must not have any religious content.
We are not discriminating against the lesbian and gay community in this -
we simply have no choice. As a member of the LGBT Pagan community I intensely
dislike this, but the fact is that we have to work within the law.
If we have a request from a couple who are planning
on holding a civil partnership ceremony (and I hope we will have many), we
can do exactly the same as we did before we could legally marry heterosexual
couples - we can perform a handfasting or partnering ceremony for them either
before or after their civil partnership ceremony. These must be strictly separate
from the civil ceremony, but can take whatever form the couple choose.
I hope this clarifies the current situation
for you all, and sincerely hope for future changes in the law to allow us
to legally marry any couple who wish to do so. And to any of you planning
to have your own civil partnership ceremony, we hope youŐll be in touch!
