Sacred Spaces, Sacred Words: Religion and Same-sex Marriage in England and Wales

This article provides an analysis of the ways in which the spatial and illocutionary requirements of English marriage law — which regulate the spaces in which marriages may be solemnized and the words the parties being married must speak — have been used to maintain distinctions between same-sex and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of law and society 2017-06, Vol.44 (2), p.228-254
Main Authors:	Johnson, Paul, Vanderbeck, Robert M.
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Charities Couples Discrimination Enactment Family law Gays & lesbians Homosexuality Legislators Marriage law Religion Religious beliefs Rites & ceremonies Sacredness Same sex marriage Sex differences Sexes Sexism Sexual orientation Sexual orientation discrimination
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This article provides an analysis of the ways in which the spatial and illocutionary requirements of English marriage law — which regulate the spaces in which marriages may be solemnized and the words the parties being married must speak — have been used to maintain distinctions between same-sex and opposite-sex couples. It shows how religious opponents of same-sex partnership recognition have relied upon historically entrenched differences between the spatial and illocutionary aspects of 'civil marriage ' and 'religious marriage' to argue in favour of the enactment of law that enables organized religions to exclude same-sex couples from religious premises and ceremonies that are open to opposite-sex couples for the purpose of solemnizing marriage. It extends recent international debates about how faith-based discrimination against same-sex couples is accommodated by legislators and legitimized by law, and concludes with a consideration of how English law could be amended to end discrimination based on sexual orientation.
ISSN:	0263-323X 1467-6478