Our civil partnership is a victory for everybody
WHEN Charles Keidan and Rebecca Steinfeld walked into Chelsea Register Office in 2014, little did they imagine that four years later they would be standing on the steps of the Supreme Court after winning a landmark ruling against the Government.
All they wanted was a “simple civil contract” to formalise their relationship without the
“patriarchal baggage” of a marital union. But as a heterosexual couple, this was not allowed by law.
Keidan and Steinfeld knew this, but “weren’t sure how the registrar would respond”. What they didn’t know was that they would soon be embarking on a four-year court battle to overturn the ban on heterosexual couples entering civil partnerships.
The battle was lost in court twice, but on Wednesday, in front of the nation’s cameras in Parliament Square, five Supreme Court justices unanimously allowed the appeal against the ban, ruling that the legislation is “incompatible” with human-rights laws.
Campaigners called it a “victory for love and equality”, but for Keidan and Steinfeld the fight is not over until ministers take action for all. On Wednesday, after the ruling, they delivered a letter to the Minister for Women and Equalities Penny Mordaunt, imploring her to “seize this historic opportunity” and “complete the circle of full relationship equality” by declaring that she will legislate to extend civil partnerships to all — either by using the fast-track amendment procedure or by backing Tim Loughton’s original Private Members’ Bill. “It’s an opportunity for the Government to do something positive,” they said.
If Mordaunt listens, Keidan and Steinfeld admit their own civil partnership celebrations might end up being a little less low-key. Speaking from their home in Hammersmith, they say they plan to throw a “massive party and invite everyone who’s supported us”.
Today, though, they are enjoying family time with their two children, Eden and Ariel, aged three and nine months. They are feeling a mixture of “elation” and sheer exhaustion. Although the outcome is positive, they admit there’s also an element of “sadness and frustration at the Government forcing us to go toe-totoe with them over four long years and at a great cost to the taxpayer”.
Nevertheless, it was a battle they knew they had to fight — not just for themselves but for the thousands of people who shared their personal stories with them through letters, social media and online fundraising platforms and, more widely, the
3.3 million other cohabiting couples who currently live in this country.
“I don’t think we quite realised the extent and volume of support that would come our way, but that’s what has kept us going,” says Keidan.
On a personal level, there was a feminist element — he and Steinfeld always saw each other as partners, and hence felt that a civil partnership captured the “essence and values” of their relationship much better. Having had two children since the battle began, they say they’re also “more conscious” of the family-related reasons for formalising a relationship: being able to “give protections to our children that they deserve”.
The couple recognise there are many other reasons why people wouldn’t want to get married, “whether that’s a personal experience they’ve had, or the offputting cost of getting married”, says Steinfeld. But for this couple it’s about equality. That’s reflected in the rainbow of supporters they’ve had, from married couples “who see the logic of a partnership under the law” to same-sex couples who want equality for all. They highlight that they’ve been involved in the fight for same-sex marriage equality in their Jewish community.
What do they say to same-sex people who argue that civil partnerships should be theirs, symbolic of their long struggle for their own equality?
Keidan is concrete in his response. “Inequality goes both ways. We want to make the point that discrimination, wherever it exists, is bad. What resonated with people was the fact that in this country at the moment it’s either marriage or nothing, yet the fastest-growing family type, the 3.3 million cohabiting couples, are currently denied any protections under the law. Civil partnerships and marriage should be available to everybody.”