Tuesday, 5 February 2013

A topical example of why #equal marriage matters which every Lib Dem will recognise

As the debate on #equalmarriage winds up to a hopefully successful result, let's not forget that a current high profile court case is going on in which the plea - not guilty on the grounds of marital coercion - is open to the defendent, only because she is straight.

It is written into law that a gay woman could not make that plea, as confirmed to me today by the well know legal blogger



If the #equalmarriage bill goes through - she can.

Interestingly this is a defence only open to woman - no straight or ( after the bill is passed) gay man can make the plea. Another quirk in the law that should be changed.

But at least when the law is passed, one group can make a plea in a court of law that has hitherto only be open to their straight counterparts


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1 comment:

  1. Jane6 February 2013 at 00:51

    Whether the person you refer to (not sure if that gets round the sub judice problem or not) is convicted or acquitted I very much hope that this ridiculous out-dated defence is abolished as a result. In the last few months we've had one woman in public life get out of a prison sentence by crying a lot, and now another is pleading marital coercion. Between them they are setting back the cause of sexual equality by a generation. Excuse me while I have a fit of the vapours. Has anyone got any smelling salts?

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