The House of Lords has voted to end the ban on civil partnership ceremonies taking place in religious premises.

Peers voted 95 to 21 in favour of lifting the ban. This will result in an amendment to the Equalities Bill which will allow places of worship to conduct civil partnerships, though the amendment won't compel them to perform the ceremony.

The amendment, tabled by Lord Alli, was supported by peers across parties, including former Conservative Party Chairman Lord Fowler and Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford.

Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said:
"This further step towards equality is a real victory for religious reason over those Church of England and Roman Catholic bishops who’ve tried to bully other denominations in recent weeks.

"We’ve argued throughout that this is an important matter of religious freedom. Ministers have known for some months that we intended to table this measure and we regret that the Government didn’t stand up to the bullying it faced from some churches on this issue."

"We’ll now work closely with ministers to ensure that we secure implementation of this further step towards equality. This vote is hugely important to those gay people of faith (and, as Lady Neuberger pointed out, to their Jewish mothers too!) who wish to celebrate their civil partnerships in their own place of worship."

Brighton and Hove Lib Dem Councillor Paul Elgood said: "I am really pleased that this campaign has achieved its goals and that willing religious venues can now be used as a place for civil partnerships. This campaign was first taken up by Lib Dem campaigners in Brighton Pavilion and I congratulate them on this.

"While not all interpretations of all religions recognise same-sex couples on a similar basis to mixed-sex couples, some such as Quakers, Unitarians and liberal Judaism do and have indicated they would welcome being able to conduct civil partnership ceremonies within the faith. Until now the law has prevented that from happening in churches, synagogues and other such religious venues.

"It is excellent news that - assuming the House of Commons approves the change - gay and bisexual people of faith will have the option for a civil partnership ceremony that reflects their religious beliefs.

"Of course, we don't feel this amendment goes far enough. Until we have the Marriage Without Borders called for by Nick Clegg, we cannot claim that same-sex couples are truly equal."

Gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said:
"This is another advance for gay equality and religious freedom.

"Allowing faith organisations to make their own decisions on whether to conduct same-sex civil partnerships is the democratic and decent thing to do.

"By banning religious civil partnerships, the current law is denying religious bodies the right to treat gay couples equally. It is forcing them to discriminate, even when many of them do not want to.

"Following a change in the law, we expect civil partnerships will be conducted by gay-affirmative religions, including the Unitarians and Quakers, and some Anglican churches and liberal synagogues.

"Our next goal is to secure marriage equality, to end the prohibition on lesbian and gay couples having a civil marriage in a registry office.

"The gay rights group OutRage! is planning to challenge the bans on same-sex civil marriage and opposite-sex civil partnerships in the European Court of Human Rights. Our aim is full equality for homosexual and heterosexual couples. We hope to file an appeal to the European Court by summer of this year. Already, four couples have agreed to join the legal challenge.

"If we win in the European Court of Human Rights, the government will be required to change the law to allow gay partners to have a civil marriage and to allow heterosexual couples to have a civil partnership. It will ensure, at last, full equality in the laws governing relationship recognition and rights."

For more information about Peter Tatchell view:
www.petertatchell.net

For more information about Stonewall view:
www.stonewall.org.uk