MSPs have backed the general principles of a bill designed to allow mixed-sex civil partnerships.
The Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill was passed unanimously at stage one yesterday. The legislation is designed to bring Scotland in line with the rest of the UK, allowing legal civil partnerships to be extended to mixed-sex couples when previously they were only available to those in same-sex relationships.
Same-sex marriage was legalised in Scotland in 2014, allowing couples to enter into both relationships.
In 2018, the UK Supreme Court found laws around civil partnerships infringed upon human rights by not allowing those in mixed-sex relationships to enter one.
Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said during the debate on the bill: “Making the same options of marriage or civil partnerships available to all couples upholds the equality principle of levelling up opportunities rather than taking options and choice away.”
Graham Simpson, the Scottish Tory communities spokesman, and the Equalities and Human Rights Committee both supported the bill but added there should be a provision to allow for the conversion of marriages into civil partnerships.
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