An Ealing couple fighting to overturn a ban on opposite sex couples being allowed to enter civil partnership have been at the centre of a bill going through Parliament.
Claire Beale and Martin Loat travelled from south Ealing to the Isle of Man in order to become civil partners and now their MP Rupa Huq is calling for the government to overturn the ban.
The couple, who have two children and have lived together since 2002, said formal recognition was important to them but they did not want to get married.
In October 2016, the couple had their ceremony after the Isle of Man made civil partnerships for heterosexual couples legal in the country, making them the first couple in the UK when they returned.
Speaking in a bill debate in parliament in January, Ms Huq, MP for Ealing and Central Acton argued: "Civil partnerships, introduced by the last Labour Government, were ground-breaking in allowing LGBT people to have their loving relationships recognised by law and have the same benefits as married couples.
"The current block on different sex couples to access civil partnerships was an unintended consequence of the path to equal marriage that now needs rectifying.
"They were a huge step forward back in 2004 but that was 13 years ago and it's now time to open them up to all."
She said the bill must be passed so people do not have to make a journey elsewhere just to gain the title.
Tim Loughton, the backbench Conservative MP sponsoring the bill argued that adopting the legal protection of civil partnership would be afforded to the estimated 2.9 million heterosexuals who live together in couples but whose union is not recognised by the state.
However, the parliamentary session's motion fell, with minister Rob Halfon saying the government needed time to assess all the tax and benefit implications of such a change.
Mr Loat told getwestlondon the fight would go on.
He said: "We are one of the 3 million or so ‘happily unmarrieds’.
"We are fine as we are and have proved it as much as any married couple have with our longevity.
"We don't see the need to take vows (religious or civil) underwritten by God or the state to validate that we have a firm relationship.
"When same-sex marriage became legal, many gay couples "traded up" to marriage from a civil partnership.
"So if you have a different sex couple who are happy to take the leaner, modern option, what's wrong with that?"
Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.
You can even set it to receive push notifications for all the breaking news in your area .
Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android now!
