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BBC: Gay couples 'to get equal rights' - Minister for social exclusion and equalities Barbara Roche has said there is a strong case for allowing same-sex couples to register their relationships. Co-habiting couples do not currently receive the same tax breaks or entitlements that married couples enjoy, including access to a partner's pension.
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Gay.com: Gays To have Same Rights As Married Couples - A spokesperson for Barbara Roche: "The Government is examining the issues of partnership recognition, rights and responsibilities in detail. Civil partnership registration raises a number of complex issues, which have prompted a growing debate within society." Roche is also expected to announce a public consultation on the issue when she addresses a conference, Equal Before the Law: Partnership Rights, on November 19.
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Telegraph: Gays to have the rights of married couples - Francis Elliott, deputy political editor. A review led by Barbara Roche, the minister responsible for equality issues, has concluded that gay couples should be allowed to register their relationships, conferring on them the same next-of-kin, property, and inheritance rights as marriage.
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Guardian: Equal rights plan for gay couples - Barbara Roche will be consulting over the summer on the complex practicalities of introducing partnership registration for gay couples, and it is thought that a short bill setting out the changes could be introduced in the next session of parliament. The shadow home secretary, Oliver Letwin, indicated that the Conservatives would support the measure when legislation was introduced.
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BBC: Head to head: Gay equality - Ian Burford, actor who signed a London 'partnership register' with Alexander Cannell, and Colin Hart, director of the Christian Institute, give their reactions to ministers' plans for legally-recognised civil partnerships.
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Guardian: A marriage by any other name - Adrian Gillan. With equality in sight, it is therefore more important than ever that the gay community does not relax but plays the most active role possible in the consultation and debate over the coming months.
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Guardian: Ever closer union - Leader. The government took a large stride in the march towards a more equal society yesterday by offering gays and lesbians the chance to have a civil partnership, which confers the same legal rights as a marriage.
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Guardian: New legal rights for gay couples - Clare Dyer, legal correspondent. Same-sex partners to get property and inheritance entitlements, but new law will not extend to recognition of unmarried heterosexuals.
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Independent: Mr Blair should come out of the closet and show that he is a liberal - Leader. The Prime Minister should give up his attempt to continue his two-faced appeasement of the authoritarian press. He should declare clearly that the existing law is unfair and discriminatory, and that people ought to have an equal right to make a "lifelong commitment", which is of equal value in the eyes of the law.
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Times: The unsalacious truth about sex and marriage - Matthew Parris. The result is a mess: a practical legal contract settling rights and duties on both parties in the way a business partnership may do, all tangled up with connotations of emotional and moral and spiritual pledges, and cultural blessing. Thus the word "wedding" has come to mean more than the making of a contract, and the word "marriage" to mean more than the keeping of it.
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Times: Tax reductions among benefits of marriage - Anne Ashworth and Rosemary Bennett. Gay couples will win valuable tax and pension concessions if they acquire the rights that are now enjoyed only by married people. But they stand to lose out on a range of welfare benefits which, under the present structure, favour single people over married couples.
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Times: 'I have no interest in going up the aisle' - Helen Rumbelow. A year ago they became the first women to sign Ken Livingstone's civil register. This wasn't because they wanted to be married in the traditional sense - she has, "no interest in walking up the aisle" - but because they viewed it as a first step to equal legal status.
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Times: Gay couples may be free to register their love - Greg Hurst, parliamentary correspondent. The Government's position is now closer to that announced by Oliver Letwin, the Shadow Home Secretary, in response to Lord Lester's Bill. He supported steps to address grievances of gay couples but excluded heterosexuals because they were free to marry.
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Telegraph: Tory leader cool on equal rights for gay couples - Andrew Sparrow, political correspondent. A senior Tory spokesman said that, although the party was in favour of tackling some inequalities faced by same-sex couples, it was sceptical about giving them "blanket legal rights". Central Office took the decision to clarify its position after Oliver Letwin, shadow home secretary, spoke warmly about the Government's proposals on Radio 4's Today programme.
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Telegraph: Gays to get same rights as married couples - Philip Johnston, home affairs editor. Lord Lester said: "I hope that the Government will also provide a framework for legal protection for all unmarried couples in long-term relationships. MPs and civil servants have protection for partners in their pension schemes, and it is only fair that they should do the same for their fellow citizens."
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Independent: Radical Bill will give gay couples equal legal rights - Paul Waugh, deputy political editor. The Queen's Speech will include a bill giving gay and lesbian partners the same legal rights as married couples, providing they sign an official register of partnerships. The rights include inheritance tax exemption, pension rights and next of kin rights in hospitals.
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Telegraph: Tory switch over legal rights for gay couples - George Jones, political editor. The Conservatives are preparing to demonstrate a shift to a more inclusive approach under Michael Howard's leadership by allowing a free vote on legislation giving same-sex couples similar legal rights to married partnerships.
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Telegraph: Scottish law on gay marriages is ruled out - Tom Peterkin, Scotland political correspondent. Scottish ministers yesterday tried to avoid a repeat of the furore over Section 28 when they handed responsibility for legislation that will recognise homosexual marriages to Westminster.
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Telegraph: Pope attacks 'evil' gay marriages - Government proposals to recognise homosexual "civil partnerships" were denounced by the Pope yesterday as the legitimisation of "evil". Moves to grant legal rights to gay couples will undermine marriage and must be strongly opposed by Roman Catholic politicians, a Vatican document approved by the Pontiff said.
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Telegraph: Bill to give gay couples more rights - Joshua Rozenberg, legal editor. A Private Mmber's Bll to give homosexuals and cohabitants some of the rights enjoyed by married couples will be launched this week by the Liberal Democrat lawyer, Lord Lester of Herne Hill, QC, in the House of Lords.
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Telegraph | News - Sarah Womack, political correspondent. Reactions to the statement by Lady Morgan, the minister for women and equality, that she was considering introducing a nationwide register for same-sex partners to extend the pension and inheritance benefits that married couples receive.
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Observer: Gay couples win full rights to 'marriage' - Kamal Ahmed and Gaby Hinsliff. Under the Civil Partnerships Bill to be published on 31 March 2004, same-sex couples will be able to sign a register held by the register office in a procedure similar to a marriage.
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