NORTHERN IRELAND: Belfast Court To Issue Ruling On Same-Sex Marriage Lawsuit “After Christmas”

The BBC reports:

Judgement in a landmark legal case challenging Northern Ireland’s ban on same-sex marriage will be delivered after Christmas. The case has been taken by two same-sex couples who were the first people in the UK to enter civil partnerships in 2005. Their lawyer claimed they are suffering state discrimination as a result of the ban. Judgement was reserved after a two-day hearing at the High Court in Belfast.

Grainne Close, Shannon Sickles and Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane challenged Stormont as the only UK administration to ban same-sex marriage. Belfast was the first place in the UK to host civil partnership ceremonies when the law was introduced 10 years ago, but now Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK and Ireland that has not legalised same-sex marriage. The judge heard the case tandem with a separate bid by two men who want their marriage in England to be recognised in their native Northern Ireland. He said: “There are a lot of issues raised in this case and the other. I will give my judgement after Christmas.”

Last month Northern Ireland’s parliament narrowly approved same-sex marriage but the vote was nullified in a procedural move by the Democratic Unionist Party.