Tuesday, September 3, 2002
Deregistration hits domestic partners in London
A story released today by This is London reports that a year after same-sex marriages were introduced in the capital, London has had its first same-sex divorces.
Five of the 314 gay partnerships registered with the Greater London Authority have broken down irretrievably.
Intriguingly, the rate of breakdown is almost exactly the same as that for heterosexuals after one year of marriage.
The London Partnership Register, introduced by Ken Livingstone last year, shows that 1.6 percent of the officially recognized gay and lesbian relationships have ended in " deregistration".
The first same-sex "marriages" took place last September at the GLA's former HQ in Victoria and marked the fulfillment of an election pledge by the Mayor to introduce an official "partnership register" in the capital. Although the document is still not recognized in law, Mr. Livingstone hopes that will eventually change.
