iii) Humanist celebrants are currently not permitted to conduct marriages in England and Wales.

Conference recognises that:

a) The Deputy Prime Minister, and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, the Rt Hon Nick Clegg MP, said in Pink News on 1 7th February 2010: ‘I support gay marriage. Love is the same, straight or gay, so the civil institution should be the same too. All couples should be able to make that commitment to one another’.
b) The moves by the new coalition government to allow ceremonies for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender couples to be performed in religious buildings are very much welcomed.
c) Whether someone believes in marriage, civil partnership or commitment, any religious organisation
or building whether a church, mosque or temple which chooses to have civil partnerships
celebrated at their religious places of worship will be in the future able to do so.
d) To grant rights to one group of individuals which are denied to others based on sexual orientation and gender is unconscionable.
e) The current arrangements with regards to marriage are discriminatory in nature.
f) Non-UK same-sex marriages are currently equated to civil partnership in the UK, not
marriage.

Conference believes that as stated in the preamble to the party’s constitution, we ‘exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society, in which we seek to balance the fundamental values of liberty, equality and community’ and ‘reject all prejudice and discrimination’ including those issues which relate to gender and sexual orientation.

Conference therefore calls on the British government to:

1. Open both marriage and civil partnerships to both same-sex and mixed-sex couples.
2. To allow approved religious and humanist celebrants who wish to do so to legally solemnise and celebrate same-sex and mixed sex marriages and civil partnerships in any authorised place.
3. To allow those individuals who wish to seek gender recognition or change their legally
recognised gender to remain in their current marriage or civil partnership without changing
any legal requirements.
4. To establish a simple and straightforward process by which any existing civil partnership may be converted into a marriage or vice-versa without the need to dissolve the civil partnership or proceed with a divorce.
5. To automatically recognise all non-UK same-sex marriages as marriage in the UK, and to subsequently remove non-UK same-sex marriages from the current schedule which equates them to civil partnerships in the UK.
6. To continue to maintain the schedule equating non-UK same-sex civil unions or registered partnerships as civil partnerships in the UK.
7. To add non-UK opposite-sex civil unions or registered partnerships to the schedule equating them to Civil Partnerships in the UK.
8. To openly promote and encourage recognition of same-sex marriage and civil partnerships across the European Union, especially in countries where currently no laws exist.

Applicability: Federal, subject to the consent of the Scottish Parliament.

Amendment

Amendment One
10 conference representatives

After ii) (line 5), insert:
iii) Humanist celebrants are currently not permitted to conduct marriages in England and Wales.