The government has proposed to change a further inconsistency between civil partnerships and marriages.

One of the five facts that are used to evidence a divorce is adultery. Currently, a couple cannot end a marriage or civil partnership based on the other’s adultery if the adultery committed was with someone of the same sex. This is because adultery, as defined, can only take place with two people of opposite sex. An archaic definition.

The bar confirms that “A spouse or civil partner having sexual intercourse with someone of the same sex is not technically adultery although in many cases it would lead to the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage or civil partnership.”