Same-sex marriage in Scotland

Same-sex marriage in Scotland has been legal since 16 December 2014. As family law is not reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament has legislative competence to make changes to the law on marriage.[1] A same-sex marriage law was approved by the Scottish Parliament in February 2014 and received royal assent on 12 March 2014. It came into effect on 16 December with many civil partners converting their relationships into marriages, while the first same-sex marriage ceremonies occurred on 31 December 2014. Civil partnerships for same-sex couples have been legal since 2005.

Civil partnerships

Civil partnerships have been a right of same-sex couples in Scotland to access since 2005, when the UK Parliament passed the Civil Partnership Act 2004 (Scottish Gaelic: Achd Com-pàirteachasan Sìobhalta 2004; Scots: Ceevil Pairtnership Act 2004).[2] The Act gives same-sex couples most (but not all) of the rights and responsibilities of civil marriage.[3] Civil partners are entitled to the same property rights as married opposite-sex couples, the same exemption as married couples on inheritance tax, social security and pension benefits, and also the ability to get parental responsibility for a partner's children,[4] as well as responsibility for reasonable maintenance of one's partner and their children, tenancy rights, full life insurance recognition, next of kin rights in hospitals, and others. There is a formal process for dissolving partnerships akin to divorce.

The legalisation of same-sex marriage in Scotland has had several notable impacts on legislation relating to Scottish civil partnerships. The Scottish Government has elected to introduce:[5]

• Possible tests for religious and belief bodies to meet when solemnising marriages or registering civil partnerships, in light of increasing concerns over sham and forced marriages.
• Religious and belief ceremonies to register civil partnerships.

Since November 2015, civil partnerships originating elsewhere in the United Kingdom other than Scotland (including Northern Ireland) can be converted to a marriage without the couple being forced to dissolve the civil partnership.[6] In June 2020, the Scottish Parliament passed legislation opening civil partnerships to different-sex couples.[7]

Statistics

According to the National Records of Scotland, 5,753 civil partnerships were registered in Scotland between 2005 and 2019. The data is shown in the table below.[8]

By Scottish council area, the most same-sex partnerships were performed in the City of Edinburgh (1,470), followed by Glasgow City (1,127), Dumfries and Galloway (583), Fife (270), Highland (205), Aberdeen City (184), Argyll and Bute (149), Perth and Kinross (146), Dundee City (137), South Lanarkshire (116), Stirling (113), Aberdeenshire (109), the Scottish Borders (106), North Ayrshire (104), South Ayrshire (95) and West Lothian (95), East Lothian (92), North Lanarkshire (91), Falkirk (78), Renfrewshire (66), Moray (57), Midlothian (53), West Dunbartonshire (51) and Angus (51), East Dunbartonshire (47), East Ayrshire (42), East Renfrewshire (41), Clackmannanshire (33), Inverclyde (26), the Orkney Islands (7) and the Shetland Islands (7), and Na h-Eileanan Siar (2).[8]

	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	Total
Female partnerships	31	469	348	280	279	268	325	317	313	243	31	28	29	27	33	3,021
Male partnerships	53	578	340	245	219	197	229	257	217	193	33	42	41	38	50	2,732
Total	84	1,047	688	525	498	465	554	574	530	436	64	70	70	65	83	5,753

Same-sex marriage

Laws regarding same-sex partnerships in Europe¹

  Marriage

  Civil union

  Limited domestic recognition (cohabitation)

  Limited foreign recognition (residency rights)

  Unrecognized

  Constitution limits marriage to opposite-sex couples

¹ May include recent laws or court decisions that have not yet entered into effect.

---

Petition

In January 2009, a petition was drawn up by Nick Henderson, director of the LGBT Network, to be submitted to the Scottish Parliament. The petition called for a change to the law that disallowed two people of the same sex from getting married, by amending the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977. The petition also called for allowing same-sex marriage ceremonies to be performed by faith groups, but only if the religious institution gives consent.[9][10] As well as political support from the leader of the Labour Party in the European Parliament, Glenis Willmott, and MEP and veteran gay rights activist Michael Cashman, the petition drew the signatures and support of Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson and of eight church leaders, both Episcopalian and the Church of Scotland. The Very Reverend Kelvin Holdsworth, Provost of the Scottish Episcopal St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, has often spoken of his willingness and desire to perform valid same-sex marriages in his church, and was a key supporter of the petition.[11] It also attracted high-profile support from Labour MSP George Foulkes.[12] The petition closed on 6 March, having gathered 1,007 signatures.[13][14]

On 17 March 2009, the Petitions Committee unanimously agreed to question the Scottish Government on whether and when it planned to amend the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 to allow same-sex marriages. They also requested that a reason be provided if an amendment could not be considered.[15][16]

In March 2009, shortly before submission of the LGBT Network's petition to the Scottish Parliament, NUS Scotland established an Equal Marriage Campaign, launching a similar petition to the Scottish Parliament and calling for the amendment of legislation to allow same-sex marriage and mixed-sex civil partnerships in Scotland, although the petition itself did not distinguish between civil and religious marriage. This campaign attracted the support of a number of MSPs and MEPs, as well as activist organisations and individuals.[17] The petition closed on 1 September 2009, having gathered 1,317 signatures.[18] On 8 September, the Petitions Committee convened after a summer recess, and agreed to contact the government seeking responses to specific points raised in both petitions and the discussion.[19][20]

On 1 December 2009, the Petitions Committee decided to seek a meeting between a government minister and the petitioners, as well as enquire as to whether the government might consider setting up an advisory committee of interested parties.[21] The government rejected the petition, as legalising same-sex marriage in Scotland only would require changes in non-devolved matters such as the areas of immigration, pensions and inheritance law all of which would have to be done at national level.[22] The head of the government's equality unit, Hilary Third, said that although from an equality point of view "equal marriage is where we want to be" it would be a "difficult situation" if same-sex marriage was legal in Scotland but not in England.[23] In 2011, Her Majesty's Government announced a consultation on the legalisation of same-sex marriage in England and Wales would be held, and it began in March 2012.

Consultation

From September to December 2011, the Scottish Government held a consultation on the issue after the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey found 60% of Scots to be in favour of legalising same-sex marriages in Scotland. The consultation offered consideration on both removing religious prohibitions for civil partnerships and also legalising same-sex marriage. In the foreword to the consultation document, Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon stated

"The Scottish Government is choosing to make its initial views clear at the outset of this consultation. We tend towards the view that religious ceremonies for civil partnerships should no longer be prohibited and that same-sex marriage should be introduced so that same-sex couples have the option of getting married if that is how they wish to demonstrate their commitment to each other. We also believe that no religious body or its celebrants should be required to carry out same-sex marriages or civil partnership ceremonies."[24]

Unlike the English and Welsh consultation, the one for Scotland dealt with the issue of same-sex marriage in a religious context. On 10 December 2011, The Scotsman newspaper reported that some 50,000 responses had been received from within Scotland.[25] In reality, when counting was finished, the total stood at 77,508.[26] The government presented the results and analysis of the consultation in July 2012. Respondents who opposed the introduction of same-sex marriage were in the majority, with 67%.[27][28] However, 14,869 (19%) of responses came from outside of Scotland and 26,383 (34%) were submitted by a pre-printed postcard rather than via the proper consultation form.[26]

Legislation

On 25 July 2012, the Scottish Government announced it would bring forward legislation to legalise both civil and religious same-sex marriage in Scotland. It reiterated its intention to ensure that no religious group or individual member of the clergy would be forced to conduct such ceremonies; it also stated its intention to work with Westminster to make necessary changes to the Equality Act 2010 to ensure that this would be guaranteed.[29][30]

On 27 June 2013, the Scottish Government introduced the Marriage and Civil Partnerships (Scotland) Bill to the Scottish Parliament.[31][32] LGBT rights campaigners, celebrating outside the UK Parliament on 15 July 2013 for the clearance of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 in the House of Lords, declared that they would continue the campaign to extend same-sex marriage rights to both Scotland and Northern Ireland.[33]

A majority of members of the Scottish Parliament had declared their support for same-sex marriage, including the then leader of each party in Parliament: Alex Salmond (SNP; then First Minister of Scotland), Johann Lamont (Labour), Ruth Davidson (Conservative), Willie Rennie (Liberal Democrats) and Patrick Harvie (Green).[34]

The bill was fast-tracked through the Scottish Parliament with the aim of achieving royal assent for the legislation by March 2014.[35] The Equal Opportunities Committee considered the bill from 5 September to 7 November, with a report published on 8 November. On 20 November, the bill passed its first stage with a 98 to 15 vote and 5 abstentions.[36] Of the 98 MSPs that voted "yes" on the bill, 52 were members of the Scottish National Party, 31 were members of the Labour Party, 7 were members of the Conservative Party, 4 were members of the Liberal Democratic Party, 2 were members of the Green Party, and 2 were independents.[37] Of the 15 MSPs that voted "no" on the bill, 6 were members of the Scottish National Party, 8 were members of the Conservative Party, and 1 was a member of the Labour Party.[37] Of the 5 MSPs that abstained, 2 were members of the Scottish National Party, and 3 were members of the Labour Party.[37]

The bill returned to the Equal Opportunities Committee for its second stage. The Committee considered the bill on 19 December 2013, rejecting several amendments proposed by opponents of the legislation.[38] The Committee continued the second stage on 16 January 2014.[39] The final stage debate and vote was held on 4 February 2014. The bill was approved with 105 MSPs in favour and 18 opposed, with no abstentions.[40] The bill received royal assent as the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 (Scottish Gaelic: Achd Pòsaidh is Com-pàirteachasan Sìobhalta (Alba) 2014;[41] Scots: Mairiage an Ceevil Pairtnership (Scotland) Act 2014) on 12 March,[42] and the first same-sex marriages occurred on 31 December 2014.[43]

Statistics

462 same-sex marriages were performed in Scotland in the first five months after the law came into force. Same-sex marriages made up 12% of all marriages performed during that time.[44]

Statistics published by the National Records of Scotland showed that 1,671 same-sex marriages took place in Scotland in 2015. Of these, 935 were conversions from existing civil partnerships and 736 were new marriages.[45] In 2016, there were 998 same-sex marriages, representing about 3.4% of the total 29,229 marriages performed in Scotland that year.[46]

Number of marriages performed in Scotland[8]

Year	Same-sex	Opposite-sex	Total	% same-sex
2014	367	28,702	29,069	1.26%
2015	1,671	28,020	29,691	5.63%
2016	998	28,231	29,229	3.41%
2017	982	27,458	28,440	3.45%
2018	979	26,546	27,525	3.56%
2019	912	25,095	26,007	3.51%

Public opinion

A 2014 opinion poll published by the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey showed that 68% of Scottish people supported same-sex marriage, while 17% opposed. Support was higher among young people (83%) than among people over 65 (44%), higher among women (72%) than men (63%), and higher among atheists or irreligious people (81%) than among Catholics (60%) or Church of Scotland adherents (59%).[47]

See also

• LGBT rights in Scotland
• Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom
• Recognition of same-sex unions in the British Overseas Territories
• Recognition of same-sex unions in Europe

References

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