Future of civil partnership: consultation

Annex C: Closure of civil partnership in other jurisdictions

Introduction

1. The term "civil partnership" is used in Scotland and in the United Kingdom as a whole. Other countries use different terms, such as "civil union", "domestic partnership" or "registered partnership". The terms used below reflect the English language terminology used by the governments of the various jurisdictions in relation to their own systems of civil union.

2. The following (not exhaustive) list contains examples of jurisdictions where civil partnership has been closed as an option for couples. By closure we mean no new civil partnerships could be registered. The Scottish Government's understanding is that existing civil partnerships in the jurisdictions below could be retained if the couples wished.

3. In the cases above, in each jurisdiction the introduction of same sex marriage led to the withdrawal of the civil partnership option at the same time; repeal did not occur after same sex marriage becoming available.

Information from other jurisdictions: some examples

Denmark

4. Denmark ^[48] was the first country in the world to introduce civil unions for same sex couples in 1989. Called registered partnerships, they were replaced by same sex marriage in 2012. Statistics ^[49] on marriages and registered partnerships in Denmark since 1989 are below.

5. Generally, the above shows that registered partnerships were more popular with men than women: while available, there were on average 174 male registered partnerships per year and 154 female registered partnerships. However, from 2002 to 2012, more women entered into registered partnerships each year than men. In the six years since introduction of same sex marriage, the figures show that on average marriage is more popular with female same sex couples than with male: respectively, 213 and 150 per year.

Finland

6. Finland introduced registered partnerships on 1 March 2002. That was repealed fifteen years later, when same sex marriage was introduced on 1 March 2017, along with the repeal of the law on creation of registered partnerships. Existing registered partnerships could remain in place after 1 March 2017 if the couple wished. Figures ^[50] from Finland are set out below.

7. Statistics Finland said when discussing the 2017 data ^[51] ,

" One could say that the amendment to the Marriage Act inspired same-sex couples to get married when we compare the number of marriages contracted to the number of partnership registrations in recent years. In all, 554 contracted marriages in ten months is more than one and a half times the average number of registered partnerships in the previous five years and more than double the number in 2016."

8. The Finnish Population Register reported ^[52] that in the period March to August, 1122 registered partnerships had changed to marriage. This is some 28% of the 4,006 partnerships registered in total since introduction in 2002.

Ireland

9. In Ireland, the Marriage Act 2015 removed the legislative requirement for marriage to be between parties of the opposite sex and repealed provisions that had provided for the creation of same sex civil partnerships by registration.

10. The reason for contemporaneous introduction of same sex marriage and repeal of same sex civil partnership was – perhaps unusually in closure models – constitutional. Article 41 of the Irish Constitution sets out that the State is required to "guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack." When civil partnership was introduced, it was not made available to opposite sex couples on the grounds that it would breach that obligation by creating a competition to marriage. Similarly, upon the introduction of same sex marriage, same civil partnership could not continue to be available without competing with the new form of marriage and consequently breaching the obligation.

11. Statistics from Ireland ^[53] are below.

Norway

12. Same sex registered partnerships were introduced in Norway on 1 August 1993. It was the second country to do so, after Denmark (discussed above). Same sex marriage became possible on 1 January 2009, after which no new registered partnerships could be created. The intention behind its introduction was to ensure that opposite and same sex couples are both equal under the law.

13. Norwegian statistics ^[56] on registered partnerships (from 1993 to 2008) and same sex marriage (from 2009 to 2016) are below.

14. The figures from Norway are consistent with those from other jurisdictions in showing that more female same sex couples than male same sex couples get married: for each male same sex marriage there are 1.6 female same sex marriages.