Urge your MP to support legal recognition for humanist marriages now.
Please take a minute to urge your MP to support the immediate legal recognition of humanist marriages. The UK Government has announced that it will finally legally recognise humanist marriages in England and Wales, but only as part of wider marriage reform on which it has announced further consultation and will require new legislation. This means it will take years to come into effect and creates uncertainty in that humanist couples still don’t know if or when they can get legally married in a humanist ceremony. Nor does it address the pressing need to end the discrimination faced by humanist couples who can’t get married in line with their non-religious beliefs. We need your help to ask your MP to call on the Government to use its existing powers to immediately recognise humanist marriages, even on an interim basis while the Government undertakes wider marriage reform.
Humanist weddings already have legal recognition in Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Jersey, and Guernsey. Parliament voted in 2013 to pave the way for them in England and Wales, but instead of making use of this power, the previous Government reviewed and consulted on the matter several times, allowing England and Wales to fall further behind.
In 2020, the High Court ruled that the refusal to grant legal recognition to humanist marriages was discriminatory, but gave the Government more time to resolve the issue due to the then ongoing Law Commission review into marriage law. This review has now concluded – as the Government has just published its response – which means now is the perfect time to bring this topic to your MP’s attention, and persuade the Government that legal humanist marriages should be an option for humanist couples now.
We’ve suggested some text you can use, but please, if you are able, edit it to make it more personal – we know that MPs are more likely to take notice of personalised emails and queries, which are infinitely more powerful than standard letters. Even a few added sentences can make a real difference.
Here are some examples of what you might include in your letter:
If you are planning to have – or have had – a humanist wedding – please explain this, and the difference legal recognition would make or would have made to your special day.
If you have attended a humanist wedding – please describe what the experience was like, and how it differed to other weddings you have been to.
If you conduct humanist wedding ceremonies – emphasise this, and identify how your work makes these ceremonies distinct and special.
If you want to find out more about our humanist marriage campaign work before drafting your letter, you can read about it here.
Thank you for your support.