Equal Marriage Bill goes to Committee

Following MPs voting in favour of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill by 400 to 175 on Tuesday, it will now go before a Public Bill Committee for consideration.

The Committee is expected to meet for the first time on Tuesday 12 February. Interested parties are being invited to submit their views in writing. The Committee will stop receiving written evidence at the end of the Committee stage on Tuesday 12 March 2013.

The proposed legislation would introduce civil marriage for same sex couples, and enable religious organisations to opt in to conduct same sex marriages if they wish to do so.

The Bill includes provisions intended to protect religious organisations and individuals from being forced to conduct same sex marriages.

The Bill would also enable civil partners to convert their partnership to a marriage and would enable married transsexual people to gain legal recognition in their acquired gender without having to end their marriage.

Submissions should be emailed to scrutiny@parliament.uk as a word document accompanied by a summary. For more information, please visit the Parliament website.