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e 22,000 partnerships by 2010 (Office for National Statistics, 2012; Women and
Equality Unit, 2004). Analysis of take-up indicates that initial high demand from
established couples has now levelled off, with the 15,000 civil partnerships
registered in 2006 falling to approximately 5,500 in 2009 and remaining at a similar
level in 2010, suggesting that a steady state in take-up has been reached (Ross, Gask
and Berrington, 2011, p. 4). As divorce is to marriage, so dissolution is to civil
partnership. At the end of 2010, just over one thousand civil partnerships in England
and Wales had been dissolved, with the percentage of civil partnerships ending in
dissolution running at a lower rate than the equivalent divorce rate for married
couples, though civil partnership remains too recent an innovation to enable longterm
conclusions to be drawn from the initial data (Ross, Gask and Berrington, 2011,
p. 15).
Whether or not civil partnerships were conjured up as a means of paving the way for
full marriage equality (Wright, 2006, p. 260), England and Wales have followed
Scotland’s lead in consulting on proposals to extend full marriage rights to lesbian
and gay couples (Government Equalities Office, 2012; Scottish Government, 2011).
This suggests a further twist to the process of liberation by stealth, with civil
partnership acting as a precursor to full marriage rights. Whereas the Scottish
Government has signalled its intention to bring forward legislation on same-sex
marriage, including provisions for religious marriage and civil partnership
ceremonies (Scottish Government, 2012), the Home Office consultation was framed
in unambiguous terms of how, rather than whether, same-sex marriage would be
implemented. Although marriage equality in England and Wales is far from being
secured, the Ministerial foreword defined the consultation in terms of, “launching
this consultation to seek your views on how we can remove the ban on same-sex
couples having a civil marriage in a way that works for everyone.” [my emphasis]
(Government Equalities Office, 2012, p. 1).
In response to the consultation, the UK government has signalled its intention to
bring forward legislation on same-sex marriage. At a visit to an aircraft factory in
December 2012, Prime Minister David Cameron voiced fulsome support for marriage
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