Campaigns for equal marriage and equal civil partnership in Scotland and UK-wide. Throughout the UK at present, marriage is restricted to mixed-sex couples; civil partnership is restricted to same-sex couples; and a trans person who is married or in a civil partnership is required to get a divorce in order to get gender recognition.

Campaigns for same-sex marriage in Scotland

There are two current petitions to the Scottish Parliament calling for same-sex marriage.

One is by the LGBT Network. That petition is already being considered by the Parliament, and you can see details here.

The other is by the Equal Marriage Campaign established by NUS Scotland's LGBT Campaign. That petition is still collecting signatures, and you can sign up by going to their website. This petition calls for same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partnership, so that everyone gets the same choices.

The Equality Network is supporting both of these petitions. For more detail see the Equality Network's page on same-sex marriage / mixed-sex civil partnership.


Equality Network Manifesto

The Equality Network manifesto (Equality for All, 2007-2011) says: "Civil partnership is not equal to marriage; it is separate and symbolically different in a fundamental way. The present arrangements discriminate against same-sex couples, who cannot marry if they wish to, and against mixed-sex couples, who are denied access to civil partnership – which some mixed-sex couples would prefer to cohabitation or marriage. The current law also discriminates against transsexual people and their partners, because transsexual people cannot obtain gender recognition (which changes their legal gender) if they are married or in a civil partnership, and so must divorce first.