Tuesday, April 01, 2014

Britain: Same-Sex Couples Marry Under New Law



By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARCH 29, 2014




Some gay couples in Britain waited decades for the right to get married. When the opportunity came, it took just a few minutes to make history, and Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway of London were among the first to marry as Britain’s new marriage law, approved last July, went into effect early Saturday. The two men married in front of about 100 guests at their local town hall in the London borough of Camden — one of several places holding late-night ceremonies to mark the occasion. It was a sign of a profound shift in attitudes in a country that little more than a decade ago had a law on the books banning the “promotion” of homosexuality. Same-sex marriage has been welcomed with enthusiasm by Britain’s Conservative-led government. Rainbow flags went up over two government buildings on Friday in what Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called “a small symbol to celebrate a massive achievement.” 



Tanya Ward, right, and Nikki Pettit, among the first gay couples to legally marry in Brighton, were showered on Saturday. Credit Leon Neal/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images


A version of this brief appears in print on March 29, 2014, on page A5 of the New York edition with the headline: Britain: Same-Sex Couples Marry Under New Law.

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