LONDON - Two university professors failed on Monday in a court bid seeking British recognition their same-sex marriage, arguing their human rights had been violated by laws that recognized the union only as a civil partnership.Sue Wilkinson and Celia Kitzinger wed in Vancouver, Canada, in 2003, and had asked London's High Court for legal recognition of the marriage in Britain.
In a ruling, Mark Potter, president of the High Court's Family Division, said there was a "long-standing definition and acceptance" that the term marriage referred to a relationship between a man and a woman, primarily designed for producing and rearing children.
"To accord a same-sex relationship the title and status of marriage would be to fly in the face of the (European) Convention (on Human Rights) as well as to fail to recognize physical reality," Potter said.
However, Potter said lasting single-sex relationships were "in no way inferior" to mixed-sex relationships.
Wilkinson and Kitzinger had argued that their relationship was like that of any other married couple and that by calling it a civil partnership, Britain had violated their human rights.
Potter said he believed people across England and Europe respected the concept of marriage and believed it is an important means of protecting the traditional family unit.
"The belief that this form of relationship is the one which best encourages stability in a well-regulated society is not a disreputable or outmoded notion based upon ideas of exclusivity, marginalization, disapproval or discrimination against homosexuals," Potter said.
from The Toronto Star
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