Discrimination against same-sex couples denied religious marriage is endemic, says York academic
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New research by academics at the Universities of York and Leeds highlights the prevailing extent of discrimination against same-sex couples wanting religious marriage ceremonies.
Professor Paul Johnson, from York’s Department of Sociology, has examined the legal framework in England and Wales that allows religious organisations to refuse to marry same-sex couples.
Working in collaboration with Professor Robert Vanderbeck at Leeds, Professor Johnson found that same-sex couples are excluded from approximately 40,200 places of worship in which opposite-sex couples can get married.
Same-sex couples are not permitted to marry in any of the 17,350 churches of the Church of England and the Church in Wales, or in nearly 23,000 other places of worship, such as Roman Catholic churches, Islamic mosques, and Hindu temples.
Although same-sex marriage has been legal in England and Wales since 2014, religious organisations are under no obligation to extend their marriage services to gay couples.
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