Same-sex Relationship Registration
One of the demands of the homosexual lobby is to have their relationships formally recognised by the state.
Within the homosexual community there is a considerable difference of opinion as to what sort of recognition they want. Some homosexuals - and some homosexual lobby groups -are asking for full marriage. In Australia the main group set up for that purpose is Australian Marriage Equality (AME).
Other groups are canvassing the range of options...
The Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby did a survey of members in 2005 and published a report called Not Yet Equal. They asked members what they would like in the way of relationship recognition.
Two questions were asked about relationship recognition. The first was about the form of recognition. "The second asked which particular form of recognition the respondent would choose for themselves, were it available. In both questions, five options were provided:
• domestic partnership (de facto) recognition (currently available in Victoria)
• registration (state or local government, need to opt-in such as with the Tasmanian system)
• marriage (federal)
• recognition of overseas marriage
• other."
The VGLRL Report said "We did not make a distinction between civil unions and registration. These have since been listed as separate choices in the ACT Department of Justice discussion paper on the recognition of same sex relationships, although the differences are minor."
The reality is that different names have been used in various countries around the world.
The word 'civil union' was first used in legislation in Vermont in 2000. The New Zealand Parliament used the term when they passed a Civil Union Act in 2004.
Prior to that the European nations that had recognised same sex partners had generally used the term 'Registered Partnerships' - for instance The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Norway all introduced 'Registered Partnership Acts'.
Sometimes particular states and cities allow for the recognition of same sex relationships when a nation does not.
Tasmania: In 2003, the Tasmanian government passed the Relationships Act 2003 (the Act) which "provides legal recognition of 'significant' or 'caring' relationships between two adults, regardless of their sex." Source: click here.
This Act allows for same-sex and heterosexual 'significant' relationships to be registered - these are for couple relationships and infer a sexual component. Caring relationships can be registered on a separate register. The two registers have different criteria - for instance two sisters cannot register a 'significant' relationship (that would be incest) but they can register a 'caring relationship'.
From 1 November 2009 a type of 'ceremony' will be allowed as well - in effect the celebrant (including a marriage celebrant!) will be allowed to be given the certificate and the registration will take effect at the time the two people sign it!
Sydney: The City of Sydney introduced a City of Sydney Relationships Declaration program in 2003. It was re-launched in 2005, as few people had registered. It applies to homosexual and heterosexual couples. For the 9 page Information pack about the Register, click here.
The reality is that a 'Relationships Register' is very similar to a 'civil union'. Often it is what is in the legislation rather than what it is called.
In fact, Wikipedia has a 'Civil Unions' page and they say a relationships register is one of the forms of a civil union. They also define the terms 'Registered partnerships' as we have described above.
One of the differences that people cite is that a civil union can have a formal 'ceremony' but a register doesn't. A ceremony and celebrant is not included in the Tasmanian register, but is in the UK Civil Partnerships Act and the NZ Civil Union Act.
Ironically there is provision for a 'celebrant' to do the ceremony for Sydney's Relationships Register.
This was one of the components of the ACT 'Civil Union Bill' that was debated in May 2006 that led then federal Attorney General Philip Ruddock to say that the federal government would overturn the ACT Civil Union Act is passed - because it claimed to be like marriage and used the federal 'Marriage Celebrants'.
But this is already happening in Sydney, as people on this homosexual website, Pinkboard, are noting. In fact a federal 'celebrant' is advertising for customers!
Melbourne City Council - 'Relationships Declaration Register'
In 2007 Melbourne City Council established a 'Relationships Declaration Register' to allow homosexual couples to register their relationships. The register is 'non-homosexual specific' so it would ALSO allow heterosexual de facto couples to register their relationship.
The proposal was passed by a vote of 6-3 on 27 March 2007 at the full Council meeting. One of the main aims of the register is to force the Victorian government to establish a state-wide register.
The FULL details of the Register - Click here for full details of the scheme on the MCC website.
Vote on the 'Register'- The Chair Lord Mayor John So, the Deputy Lord Mayor Gary Singer and Councillors Brindley, Jetter, Ng and Snedden voted for the motion and Councillors Clarke, Shanahan and Wilson voted against the motion. Click here to read the Melbourne City Council minutes of the vote. (It is item 5.12 on Page 9.)
Launch - The Council held a launch for the Relationships Register on 2 April 2007. Click here for MCC Media Release.
Committee Meetings - 13 March 2007 - After two weeks consultation the matter was re-presented to the Committee. The recommendation was to fully endorse the original proposal. The vote at this meeting was 4-2.
References:
City to open register for same-sex couples - The Age, November 18, 2006.
Melbourne City Council Media Release: 29 November 2006.
Victoria
The Victorian government passed a Relationships Register bill on 11 April 2008. For full details see our 'Completed campaign' webpage on this matter.
The bill came into effect in December 2008 - see this report from the Justice Department.
Australian Capital Territory
After two years of trying, the ACT government passed its Civil Partnerhsips Act in May 2008.
In 2006, they proposed and passed a Civil Unions Bill, but this was overturned by the Howard government as they claimed it was too much like marriage and would thus contravene the federal Marriage Act.
On 11 November 2009, an amendment was passed to allow same-sex couples to have a legally binding ceremony to start their civil partnership. The Bill was presented by a Greens MP - the labor government supported it - but insisted on an amendment to ONLY allow same-sex couples to have a ceremony, not heterosexual couples!
See report in the Canberra Times: ACT passes same-sex laws
The question is....
How many people are actually using civil union or registration schemes when they have access to them?
On our same sex marriage page, we refer to a recent study by the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, that examines this question in reference to marriage.
The study is
Demand for Same-sex marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada and Europe, IMAPP, April 2006.
"This research report offers estimates of gay and lesbian marriage rates based on the best available data. The highest estimate to date of the proportion of gays and lesbians who have married in any jurisdiction where it is available is 16.7% (Massachusetts). More typically, our survey of marriage statistics from various countries that legally recognize same-sex unions suggests that today between 1% and 5% of gays and lesbians have entered into a same-sex marriage. In the Netherlands, which has had same-sex marriage as a legal option for the longest period, between 2% and 6% of gays and lesbians have entered marriages in the first five years. [1]
Data for registration schemes/civil unions/ registered partnerships etc...
Private Lives: Gay and Lesbian Health Victoria
This Report was published by GLHV in 2006. The Executive Summary says "Only a very small percentage of men and women (between 5-10%) reported formalising the relationship with a marriage or commitment ceremony, while most others had no wish to do so."
They say "This result appears to provide some contrast to the approximately 75% of respondents to a Victorian survey who were in favour of same sex marriage or formal domestic partnership being available throughout Australia ( McNair and Thomacos, 2005). [See the Not Yet Equal study listed above] The discrepancy may also be explained by the fact that participants in the latter study reported being in favour of the option being available rather than whether or not they personally wished to take advantage of such an option." (emphasis added)
Tasmania Relationships Register
Under the Tasmanian Relationships Act, only 63 'couples' registered in the first two years (as at 1 April 2006). The Australian census states that there were 506 same-sex 'couples' in Tasmania in 2001 - if all 63 couples were same sex couples, then that would be just 12.5% of all s-s couples. Rodney Croome recently suggested that many more 'couples' have moved to Tasmania since the laws were changed - If there are more couples now the percentage becomes less.
Further data shows that about 20% of all registrations in Tasmania are heterosexual couples.
As at 6 December 2007, there were 100 relationships registered on Tasmania's Relationships Register. Attorney-General Steven Kons said "Tasmania now has 100 relationships registered, with 99 of these registered as significant, and one registered as a caring relationship."
77 same-sex couples had registered a relationship, with 23 opposite-sex couples also registering. Of the same-sex couples, 37 were female-female and 40 were male-male. There have been 4 'revocations' (read divorce!). Source
July 2009 - By July 2009 there had been 129 'significant' relationships' registered: 100 same-sex relationships (50 male-male, 50 female-female) and 29 opposite-sex couples. There were two 'caring' relationships.
The Relationships Act recognizes a range of "significant relationships" plus 'caring' relationships (including those between a person and a long-term care giver, or elderly friends who live together).
No "caring" relationships were registered before 2007. Click here. The first one was registered during 2007 and there were two by July 2009.
New Zealand
In the first twelve months after the New Zealand government passed the Civil Unions Bill, there were 458 civil unions formalised. Figures released by the Department of Internal Affairs show that there were 178 gay civil unions, 199 lesbian civil unions and 81 straight unions: meaning that around 7.5% of the 5070 same sex couples (as recorded in the 2001 census) have had a 'civil union'.
Click here.
A total of 1,000 civil unions were registered in the first 2.5 years up to October 2007: 80% were same sex and 20% heterosexual between a man and a woman. In the same time 45,000 marriages had been performed. Click here for article.
That means about 15% of same-sex couples have registered a 'civil union'.
ACT
The Australian Capital Territory legislated to allow the registration of 'civil partnerships' from May 2008.
By February 2009, 52 people (26 couples) had taken out a 'civil partnership'. This is 4.3% of same-sex couples from the 2006 census.
Sydney same-sex 'register
ONLY 22 couples 'registered' their relationship in the first year of the Sydney Relationship Declaration scheme (by March 2006). Lord Mayor Clover Moore urged more homosexual couples to register their relationships. Click here.
The 2001 census shows that there are 2,265 same-sex couples in Federal seat of ' Sydney ' - 1% have chosen to register! This is despite two mardi gras being held since the registration was enacted and a protest at the 1st anniversary of the passing of the federal governments legislation banning same-sex 'marriage'. These were surely great opportunities to make registration an issue. There is no record of 'other' relationship recognition requests.
United Kingdom
The UK legalised 'civil partnerships' in December 2005. These only apply to homosexual couples. From 5 December 2005 through to the end of 2006 there were 18,059 'civil partnerships'. More details/statistics.
In 2007, the number of couples registering civil partnerships fell by more than 50%. The reasons given by homosexual activists varied - 'not interested', homosexuals reject them as representing 'integration', many couples registered in the first year. Click here for report in The Observer.
The 2001 census found 78,000 people living as a same-sex couple - 39,261 couples. A 2% estimate of the number of homosexuals would give around 800,000 homosexuals in the UK.
Victoria - Update 24 February 2009
Victoria began a relationship register scheme, for same-sex and heterosexual couples, on 1 December 2008.
On 11 February, a homosexual newspaper claimed that the Victorian register for same-sex relationships was a 'success' because 48 couples have registered with the Births, Deaths and Marriages office since the scheme began on 1 December 2008.
Of the 48 couples, 17 are female-female, 28 are male-male and 3 are male-female.
An additional 25 couples have applied to register but are in the 28 day waiting period.
However, given that there were 12,708 people in Victoria who said they were in a a same-sex couple relationship at the 2006 census, this means that only 0.7% of those have registered their relationship. Adding in the additional 25 couples gives 1.1% of all same-sex couples.
The question is 'How does one measure 'success'?
How long do same sex 'unions' last?
Same-sex unions and Divorce Risk
This research highlights the length of formalised same-sex relationships.
Statement from 'Same-sex unions and Divorce Risk: Data from Sweden', Institute for Marriage and Public Policy:
"Same-sex legal unions, however, had unusually high rates of divorce. Sweden is a country with relatively low rates of marriage and relatively high rates of divorce. In 1999, 55 percent of Swedish births were outside of marriage.18 There were 53 divorces for every 100 marriages.19 Overall, gay male couples were 1.5 times as likely (50 percent more likely) to divorce within the 8-year study period and lesbian couples in legal unions were 2.67 times as likely (167 percent more likely) to divorce.20 After controlling for demographic variables associated with increased divorce risk, gay partners remained 1.35 times as likely (35 percent more likely) to divorce and lesbian partners three times as likely (200 percent more likely) to divorce as opposite-sex married couples.21"
Sources:
* Gallagher, Maggie., and Baker, Joshua, 'Same-sex unions and Divorce Risk: Data from Sweden', Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, iMAPP Policy Brief, May 3 2004.
* Also Gallagher, Maggie., and Baker, Joshua, 'Demand for Same-Sex Marriage: Evidence from the United States, Canada, and Europe', Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, iMAPP Policy Brief, Vol. 3, No.1 April 26, 2006.
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