London Partnership Register

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The London Partnership Register was a scheme to help formalise same-sex relationships set up in 2001 by Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, a little over 4 years before the first legally recognised same-sex unions in the United Kingdom (known as "civil partnerships") were introduced by the Civil Partnership Act 2004. In that time, just under 1,000 couples had signed the register, some of whom were among the first to become civil partners on 21 December 2005, the first day that was possible in England and Wales.

History

London's City Hall, near Tower Bridge, where most couples celebrated their relationships by signing the London Partnership Register.

The London Partnership Register was launched on 5 September 2001[1] by Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, working with Angela Mason,[2] his advisor on LGBT issues and at the time director of Stonewall.[3] Setting up a same-sex registration scheme had been suggested by gay Green Party Assembly Member Darren Johnson during the first Mayor's Question Time in 2000.[4] The new scheme was announced shortly before Mardi Gras 2001, London's LGBT pride celebrations.[5]

Both same-sex and opposite-sex couples were eligible to register, as long as at least one partner was a resident of Greater London.[6] For the first year, partnerships were registered at the Greater London Authority (GLA) headquarters in Westminster,[7] and moved one year later to its new building in City Hall on the South Bank of the River Thames near Tower Bridge on 5 September 2002.[8] Couples could have up to 25 guests attend a brief ceremony, and received a certificate confirming registration.[9] The register was funded by an £85 fee.[5][10] For confidentiality, the register was not made publicly available.[5]

Like similar schemes in many US cities,[11] the register did not confer legal recognition equivalent to marriage,[9][5] but it was hoped that courts might voluntarily accept registration as evidence in disputes involving tenancy, immigration, or pensions.[7][9] For the launch, Livingstone wrote in the Pink Paper: "The London Partnerships Register is a step on the road to equality. I hope other cities will follow suit and that other organisations will accept it as proof of a relationship."[9]

By late 2004, over 800 couples had signed the register, of which two-thirds were male–male couples, over a quarter were female–female couples and 3% were mixed-gender.[12] The GLA did not keep records as to whether any registrants were transgender.[12] Within the first 2 years of operation, 17 of the 602 registrants had separated and asked for their names to be removed from the register.[1][note 1] Likewise, in the first year of operation 5 of the 314 partnerships had separated, a ratio almost identical to that of first-year divorce among mixed-gender couples.[1][14]

Other British cities such as Brighton[8] announced their intent to follow London's lead, with both Liverpool and Manchester setting up their own registers within two years of London.[1] The London Partnership Register closed after the Civil Partnership Act 2004 was passed.[15] By 15 December 2005, 998 couples had registered their commitment under the scheme.[15] On 21 December 2005, actor Ian Burford and nursing manager Alex Cannell,[10][16] the first couple to sign the register in 2001,[17] were also among the hundreds of same-sex couples to register their civil partnerships on 21 December 2005, the first day that was possible in England and Wales.[16]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ By comparison, over 10,000 (mixed-gender) marriages ended in divorce within 3 years in 2003, with over 270,000 marriages registered that year.[13]

Sources and references

  1. ^ a b c d Lewis Smith (10 November 2003). "Partners display staying power in London". The Times. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  2. ^ "Mayor's Advisory Cabinet to discuss London Partnership Register". Local Government Chronicle. 5 March 2001. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Angela Mason (1944– )". National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  4. ^ "What has the Green Party in Lambeth and London ever done for me?". Lambeth Green Party. 2014. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d "London Partnerships to go ahead, says Mayor". Local Government Chronicle. 28 June 2001. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Gay Rights Gain in London". The New York Times. Agence France-Presse. 29 June 2001. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  7. ^ a b Robins, Jon (24 September 2001). "All's fair in love & law?". The Lawyer. pp. 25–26. Retrieved 20 January 2023 – via EBSCOHost.
  8. ^ a b "'Gay marriage' register signs up 300". BBC News Online. 5 September 2002. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d "New register recognises gay rights". The Guardian. 28 June 2001. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  10. ^ a b Alexandra Warren (10 September 2021). "This week 10, 20, 30 years ago". London News Online. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  11. ^ Barry Crown (January 2004). "Civil Partnership in the U.K. – Some International Problems". New York Law School Law Review. 48 (4): 697–710. At the other extreme, there are registration schemes such as the London Partnership Register, which are found in many U.S. cities, but confer few, if any, legal rights and are of little more than symbolic value.
  12. ^ a b "Questions to the Mayor: London Partnerships Register, 2004/1223". London Assembly. 19 September 2004. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  13. ^ "Marriage, Divorce and Adoption Statistics, England and Wales (Series FM2), No. 31, 2003". Office for National Statistics. 28 March 2006. Archived from the original on 14 October 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  14. ^ Ed Harris (2 September 2002). "After the gay marriages ... divorce". Evening Standard. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Mayor congratulates couples planning to register as Civil Partners". Mayor of London. 15 December 2005. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
  16. ^ a b Bernard Purcell (22 December 2005). "Chelsea pensioners hope Irish gays are granted same freedoms soon". Irish Independent. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  17. ^ Carvel, John (3 September 2001). "London couple first to sign gay register". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
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