Take Action: Ask Wendy Morton MP to grant legal recognition to humanist marriage

Your MP, Wendy Morton, in her role as Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Justice, is responsible for overseeing marriage law in England and Wales. It is her decision whether or not to grant humanists the right to marry in a ceremony reflecting their belief system.

We are asking for your help in persuading her to grant legal recognition to humanist marriages by writing to her.

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I am writing as your constituent to urge you to support the legal recognition of humanist marriages in England and Wales. I hope you can make representation on my behalf to the Lord Chancellor, who is responsible for this area.
A humanist wedding is a non-religious ceremony that is deeply personal and conducted by a humanist celebrant. It differs from a civil wedding in that it is entirely hand-crafted and reflective of the beliefs and values of the couple, conducted by a celebrant who shares their beliefs and values. Humanist marriages are at present legally recognised in Scotland (since 2005), Ireland (since 2012), and Northern Ireland (since 2018). But they are not in England and Wales.
Legal recognition of humanist marriages will take nothing away from anyone but will give many thousands of couples that chance to have the legal marriage they want. Even if you wouldn’t want a humanist marriage for yourself, I hope that during a time when there is a general decline in the numbers of people entering into marriage you will support it for those of your constituents who would.
It has been years now since the 2013 Marriage Act gave the Government order-making powers to give humanist marriages legal recognition, powers the Conservative ministers in charge of the Bill introduced and were at the time minded to make use of, and following a full public consultation showing overwhelming support for legal humanist marriages I sincerely hope that you will now support the use of these powers.
Increasing numbers of people like me wish to be married in a ceremony that reflects our beliefs (in a way exactly analogous to religious believers wanting a religious ceremony). Indeed, there is strong public support for legal recognition, with a recent poll finding 69% in favour and just 12% opposed. A majority of every religion and belief is in favour.
If the state can recognise the weddings of an unlimited range of religious organisations as marriages, there is no reason for it not to similarly recognise those conducted by Humanists UK. Trained and accredited humanist celebrants have been conducting wedding ceremonies for decades, which are highly valued as moving and meaningful by all who take part. In law, however, unlike most religious ceremonies, they mean nothing and have to be supplemented with a civil marriage, which cannot be so bespoke. Each year now over 1,000 weddings were conducted by humanist celebrants in England and Wales. I understand that the Law Commission is currently conducting a review into marriage laws. But it says it ‘will not be making recommendations on whether as a matter of policy new groups [i.e. humanists] should be allowed to conduct legally binding weddings, which is a decision for Government.’ So you still need to take a view. This is an outstanding human rights issue affecting thousands of couples and so in my view you should just go ahead and resolve it immediately, even if the relevant law might then be modified again after the review concludes. Further, humanists have already been waiting for this change for decades on the back of one review or another. In 1999-2005 the Labour Government did a review of marriage venues and humanist marriages were discussed during that review. But nothing came of it. The same is true for 2014 MoJ and 2015 Law Commission consultations on this very subject. The Law Commission’s review will take at least three years to see through to implementation, if that happens at all. 
The legal recognition of humanist marriages would be uncontroversial, simple to introduce, good for choice and for families, as well as popular. It will increase the number of legal marriages entered into in England and Wales, as it has in Scotland and Ireland and is beginning to in Northern Ireland. It will also remove an unreasonable disparity between different parts of the United Kingdom. And research shows that humanist marriages are less likely to end in divorce than any other types of marriage, so it would be good for marriage as an institution as well.
As the Ministry of Justice minister responsible for family law, you have responsibility for this area. I hope I can rely on your support on finally legalising humanist marriages.

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Take Action: Ask Wendy Morton MP to grant legal recognition to humanist marriage

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