Letter Writers' Guild

The Registrar of Births, Marriages and Deaths in the London Borough of Islington refused, on Christian grounds, to perform a ceremony of “civil partnership” between two homosexual persons; the Islington Council had ordered her to carry out this ceremony, in accordance with the law as they interpreted it.

On appeal to the Courts, the Registrar won the right to refuse to carry out this ceremony; it is possible that Islington Council will appeal against the Court’s decision.

An official on the BBC programme remarked “this Court’s decision to uphold the right of a Registrar to refuse to conduct a civil partnership ceremony could set up a dangerous precedent.”

It could well be argued that it is the duty of a Registrar to deal solely with Births, Marriages and Deaths, and that the so-called “dangerous precedent” is very much to be welcomed!

Michael Conn