Britain officially axes husband & wife

The coalition government’s same-sex wedding reforms would axe the words husband and wife from official documents such as tax and benefits guidance and immigration documents, and they would no longer assume a married couple as a man and a woman, British media reported.

Reforms also mean private companies will be told to overhaul paperwork and computer databases containing the words.

Marriage certificates could even be affected by the coalition proposals, with rules possibly axing terms such as bride and bridegroom.

The reforms – promised by Prime Minister David Cameron last autumn and set out in a consultation paper launched Thursday – intend to open civil marriage to gay and lesbian couples for the first time.

The proposals have triggered a furious row, with the Church of England accusing the coalition of misunderstanding the law of marriage.

But Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone warned religious leaders not to ‘fan the flames of homophobia’ with ‘inflammatory’ language.

New versions of documents will ‘replace references to husband and wife with the more neutral terms spouses and partners’.

The Church of England said: ‘Arguments that suggest “religious marriage” is separate and different from “civil marriage”, and will not be affected by the proposed redefinition, misunderstand the legal nature of marriage in this country.

‘They mistake the form of the ceremony for the institution itself.’

The Roman Catholic bishops of England and Wales said in a statement: ‘It is alarming to note that children are not mentioned at any stage in this consultation document about marriage.’

MOL/JR/HE

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