THE Western Isles is to become the only part of Britain to ban homosexual couples from holding gay wedding ceremonies. Councillors in Stornoway have agreed to support the islands’ registrars, who are refusing to perform civil partnership ceremonies on moral grounds.

Religious leaders on the staunchly Presbyterian island chain have backed the ban ahead of the first same-sex unions later this week.

Campaigners are already threatening to bring a human rights appeal against the council should any gay couple on the islands be denied a ceremony if they want one.

At a meeting of the Western Isles Council’s policy and finance committee last Thursday, councillors voted to outlaw same-sex ceremonies. It followed complaints by the council’s registrars, who said they would be unwilling to carry them out.

“It is a practical decision — our officers don’t want to do them so we didn’t even go into the debate (over morality),” said councillor Angus Campbell, the chairman of the committee.

The Rev Tim McGlynn, of the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) in Scalpay, added: “To try and force them (the registrars) to do something they think is immoral would be unjust. But that is what is being advanced by people who are what I call bigoted secularists.”

However, Calum Irving, the director of the gay charity Stonewall Scotland, said: “I received an assurance from the Scottish executive that any couple wishing to have a registration and ceremony in Scotland would receive one, so it is very concerning that the Western Isles has taken this stance.

“I would hope that if a gay couple did come forward seeking a ceremony then the council would have the good sense not to spoil that happy couple’s big day.”

More than 150 gay couples across Scotland are preparing to take part in the ceremonies when the Civil Partnership Act comes into force. The first ceremonies take place in Northern Ireland tomorrow, one day before those in Scotland and two days before England and Wales.

A total of 687 couples are scheduled to enter into civil partnerships on Wednesday, including Sir Elton John and his long-term partner David Furnish.

Under the law, which was passed in Westminster last year, gay couples will be able to legally register their relationship for the first time, giving them pension and inheritance rights equal to those of married couples.

All register offices will be legally obliged to perform basic registrations, at which gay couples will sign an official civil partnership document in front of two witnesses.

Figures gathered from register offices around the country suggest that most of the couples taking advantage of the civil partnership law are male with at least one of the pair being over 50. They want to ensure that their long-term partners benefit from the new law.

Elton John, 58, says such rights are one of the main reasons he and David Furnish, 43, are undergoing the ceremony. “We’ve been together for 12 years and we’re able to do it, so why not,” he said last month. “It gives us protection. If one of us dies, it protects the other person.”

Under the new law, a partner can inherit all their property tax-free. They also keep the same proportion of the other’s pension income as if they had been widowed.

Among those taking part in the ceremonies will be Angela Mason, director of the government’s women and equality unit, who will register with Elizabeth Wilson, her girlfriend of 30 years.

Additional reporting: Laura St Quinton

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