Marriage is an outmoded institution built on patriarchal inequality that has no place in modern societyIt is good and proper that Rebecca Steinfeld and her partner Charles Keidan have finally won the good to choose a civil partnership over marriage,the court having previously ruled that this option was open only to same-sex couples. Who’d have thought it? Heterosexuals wanting something that we’ve got; being envious of it, even. That is a rare thing to happen, and we should savour it.
But what I really love approximately this case is how it was fought on the basis that the institution of marriage is outmoded,patriarchal, and built on inequality. As a lesbian and a feminist who has long argued for the abolition of marriage, and I appreciate their sentiments. I had worried that the case was being fought on an “It’s not unprejudiced,we want what they have” basis, which would have been insulting. But I have to confess, and I carry out not want what they have had for centuries: marriage. Related: Ban on heterosexual civil partnerships in UK ruled discriminatory Civil partnerships were created in 2004 as a means of allowing same sex couples to enter into a union that guarantees them similar legal rights to those who are married. Related: The civil partnerships ruling means we can hasten on from marriage | Alex Hern Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com