Are Civil Partnerships really civil?

05-12-2007

A new report “Another Year On” from Citizens Advice investigates the impact and unforeseen consequences of the Civil Partnership Act 2005.

The report shows:

• Same sex couples are being inadvertently “outed” owing to the generic nature of corporate and bank forms.
• People are struggling with the ambiguity of language surrounding Civil Partnerships and don’t know how to refer to their circumstance in social situations.

As part of Citizens Advice commitment to helping all clients solve their money, legal and other problems, and to influence policy makers, the national charity, is proud to launch the report “Another year On” which explores the impact of the Civil Partnership Act 2005 and the potential needs of advice seeking clients.

The launch co-insides with the second anniversary of the Civil Partnership legislation, which allowed same-sex couples the right to the same legal responsibilities and rights as married couples. The report reveals that while many same sex couples, who are in or who are planning Civil Partnerships, find there are many benefits to Civil Partnership, and welcome it, there are still potential emotional, financial and social costs that come with this radical social change.

Some key issues have been identified by the report. Localised evidence suggests people are struggling with the ambiguity of language surrounding Civil Partnerships, and don’t know how to refer to their circumstance in social situations, due to a lack of conversational terms that are equivalent to the terms of the traditional marriage.

The research also found that gay and lesbian couples, who had formed a Civil Partnership were forced into revealing their sexual orientation, in situations which required disclosure of marital or partnership status.

Citizens Advice is calling for all banks and businesses to use the straight forward solution to amend pro forma to have a single category of “married/civil partner” leaving the sexual orientation of any respondents unspecified.

David Harker, Chief Executive of Citizens Advice said,

"What consistently amazes me is the amount of policy work and research that goes on through out the Citizens Advice network, alongside our key role of advising clients. Salford CAB have shown great ingenuity in thinking about the role of Civil Partnerships, and offering evidence-based suggestions that help people."

• Civil Partnerships - another year on ( 67kb)

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