02 September 2009
On Tuesday 20 October 2009, the States will be asked to approve, in principle, the proposal to enable same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships.
The Legislation Advisory Panel prepared a Green Paper on this subject in November 2007 and the former Chief Minister, presented it to the States on 14 December 2007.
The Advisory Panel's paper invited comments on the following 4 options: - to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples
- to follow the route taken by the United Kingdom and create civil partnerships, which could be entered into by same-sex couples
- to create the right to form a civil partnership between both heterosexual and homosexual couples
- to maintain the existing position
The consultation period was held between 18 December 2007 and 31 March 2008 and a total of 36 written responses were received from individuals, groups, representative bodies, States departments and companies.
The Council of Ministers considered the results of the consultation in addition to the compliance to Human Rights legislation. They are aware of the sensitivity and strongly held views on either side of this debate but have concluded that they wish to invite the States to approve the legal right to form a civil partnership between same-sex couples
At the debate States Members will be invited to take a decision as follows: To agree, in principle, that same-sex couples should be permitted to enter into civil partnerships and to request the Chief Minister to bring forward for approval by the States the necessary draft legislation to give effect to the proposal.
gov.je