Paul Jeeves
A LESBIAN couple accused a judge of taking away their marriage after a landmark legal challenge failed to have the union recognised under British law.
University professors Celia Kitzinger, 48, and Sue Wilkinson, 51, from Yorkshire, l
aunched the High Court test case to win legal recognition for same-sex marriages in Britain.
The couple, who married in 2003 in Vancouver in Canada where same-sex marriages are legal, yesterday condemned the President of the High Court Family Division, Sir Mark Potter, for refusing to declare their marriage valid in Britain.
After the hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand in London, Prof Wilkinson claimed the judge's decision meant that their "valid and legal marriage" was not recognised in this country, and added: "We are deeply disappointed by the judgment, not just for ourselves but for other gay couples and families."
She claimed they had been "stripped of our marriage" by the judge who preferred to uphold the "traditional notion" of marriage as between a man and a woman, primarily for producing children.
Prof Wilkinson added: "It perpetuates discrimination and it sends out the message that lesbian and gay marriages are inferior.
"This judgment will not stand the test of time. We are looking forward to the day when there is full equality of marriage, not just for us but for all same-sex couples."
The couple are now seeking financial help for an appeal and say the case so far has taken their life savings.
The legal costs of the Attorney General were capped at £25,000, but must be paid by the couple. Free legal advice and representation was provided by Liberty, the human rights watchdog.
Liberty legal officer Joanne Sawyer said: "Celia and Sue have bravely taken the first step on the road to securing equal marriage rights for same sex couples.
"I have no doubt that (the) judgment will in due course be viewed as being out of step with contemporary values."
But Sir Mark had said that the couple faced "an insurmountable hurdle" in trying to have a same-sex marriage recognised in English law.
Giving his ruling in London, he claimed marriage was, by "long-standing definition and acceptance", a formal relationship between a man and a woman primarily designed for producing and rearing children.
He stressed lasting single-sex relationships were "in no way inferior" and English law does not suggest they are, recognising them under the name of civil partnership.
The marriage of Prof Kitzinger and Prof Wilkinson was automatically deemed in the UK to be a civil partnership under The Civil Partnership Act, which allows same-sex couples new rights as "civil partners".
But the couple, who live in a village near Pocklington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, said they rejected this conversion to a civil partnership, and wanted the court to recognise their overseas marriage in the same way that it would recognise that of a heterosexual couple.
They claimed failure to do so would constitute a breach of their human rights to privacy and family life and their right to marry, which amounted to sexual discrimination.
Prof Kitzinger is a professor in the sociology department at York University while Prof Wilkinson is an academic psychologist who holds the posts of professor of feminist and health studies and director of the social psychology degree programme at Loughborough University in Leicestershire.
The couple brought the test case with the support of Liberty and OutRage!, the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights group.
They have been together for 14 years after they met through the British Psychological Society, and celebrate their third wedding anniversary on August 26 after they married in British Columbia while Prof Wilkinson was working at the Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.
paul.jeeves@ypn.co.uk
'This judgment will not stand the test of time. We are looking forward to the day when there is full equality of marriage, not just for us but for all same-sex couples.'
Ray Baker
Newcastle upon Tyne
Gay or not, why should anyone be able to go to another country to try to circumvent the laws of this land? Gay marriage whether we like it or not is not legal in the UK. These ladies think they can simply import laws into this country.
