Main | Monday, December 03, 2012

How Are Gay Marriages Consummated?

According to the Sunday Times, Britain's legislative wonks are in a dither over how to define the "consummation" portion of their same-sex marriage bill. Gay Star News provides a recap of the subscription-only Times story:
Civil servants have reportedly been considering the intricacies of gay sex for months, and have taken evidence from sex experts and gay rights organizations in an attempt to what defines consummation between two women and two men. In a straight relationship, consummation is only defined as complete penetration of the vagina by the penis, although it does not matter if a condom or ejaculation is involved.  While some believe consummation could be left out of the draft law, ministers have decided to make same-sex marriage an exact replica of opposite-sex marriage except for the right to marry in a church. This means like with straights, gay couples will have to consummate their marriage for it to be valid. If they do not, it could lead to the union being annulled.  Under the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973, a marriage can be annulled if one of the couple has the incapacity to consummate it, or a man or woman has wilfully refused to do so.
What if somebody, gay or straight, happens to be physically incapable of any sexual act? This is such an unnecessary and strange issue. The text of Britain's bill is due this month.

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