University will not allow civil partnerships

Members of the UCU lecturers' union at Canterbury Christ Church University have demanded the withdrawal of a ban on civil partnership ceremonies.

The university - a teacher training college for the Church of England - does permit civil marriages to take place on its premises, but decided last year to bar civil partnerships between gay and lesbian couples.

If new legislation due to be debated in parliament this month is introduced, any venue hiring itself out for civil marriages will soon have to accommodate civil partnerships as well, and the university's vice-president has claimed that the issue of allowing the ceremonies will be the subject of a "full debate" at a meeting of its governing body next month.

But the website PinkNews.co.uk claims to have evidence that a decision to maintain the ban was made at a meeting last December.

Condemning the decision as a discriminatory act which violates the university's equal opportunities policy, a meeting of UCU members last month called on the three men who proposed the ban to reverse it or resign. The university's branch of technical and professional union Amicus has supported the motion.

UCU's head of equality and employment rights, Roger Kline, described the governors' attitude as "inappropriate in a modern place of learning", while branch secretary Dr Dennis Hayes - who is also the UCU national president - told PinkNews.co.uk that "no person interested in equality can be silent" about the ban.

"What would [the governers] say if a member of staff refused to run a class to avoid teaching gays and lesbians? They'd probably be fired," he added.