Family Solicitors

A debate on gay marriage in the House of Lords has been told that a gay man could only sue his husband for adultery if his partner had sex with a woman.

The Daily Mail reports that Lords Leader Baroness Stowell used a cardboard cutout of newlywed George Clooney to demonstrate the law on gay marriage, in an attempt to persuade the Lords to support extending existing gay marriage laws.

Baroness Stowell told colleagues in the Lords that if Clooney had married a man but had gone on to commit adultery with her, then Clooney’s spouse would be able to sue him for adultery.

Baroness Stowell has a cardboard cutout of the Hollywood actor – who is now married to British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney – in her office at the House of Lords.

In the next few weeks the laws on gay marriage will be extended to allow gay couples who underwent civil partnership ceremonies to “upgrade” their partnership status to a formal marriage.

Same sex marriages in England and Wales became law in March this year, causing widespread debate among religious groups.

The law has been drafted to protect the beliefs of religious groups which do not allow same sex marriages to take place in places of worship, so that claims for discrimination can not be brought.

However, the laws in England and Wales are subject to EU rulings and the European Court of Human Rights.

In March, Fiona O’Reilly of the publication Catholic Voices told BBC News:

"Where the vast majority of same-sex couples don't want to force religious institutions to marry them, what is clear is that there's a small minority who basically say that true equality should force places of worship – and that's what they then start to seek.

“These safeguards can get eroded and 10 years down the line they may not mean as much.

"At the end of the day we are subject to the European courts and they may see things differently,” she added.

Pope Francis recently attempted to relax the Vatican’s stance on issues such as gay marriage, divorce and contraception, but his attempts at introducing more leniency in the Catholic Church regarding existing doctrine on family matters were met with resistance by the church.

The UK government’s Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan last week announced she had had a change of heart about voting for same sex marriage. Ms Morgan originally voted against same sex marriage but says if given another chance, she would vote in favour of it. Ms Morgan said her decision to vote against it was because of the opposition to gay marriage she was receiving in correspondence.

In the first three months after the new laws were introduced, 1,409 same sex couples married, with 56% of same sex weddings to June 2014 involving female partners.

Duncan Lewis Family Lawyers

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For expert legal advice on family law and childcare matters, call Duncan Lewis family lawyers on 020 7923 4020.