Gay laws: Britain may remove husband, wife terms
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If Britain's plan to legalise gay marriages takes shape, offices across the country will have to remove terms like ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ from forms and use more neutral terms like ‘spouse’ and ‘partner’, an impact assessment report said.
The plan to legalise gay marriages may cost the government millions in removing the terms from computer systems, the Daily Express reported.
Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone has said the government was determined to change marriage legislation by 2015.
Under plans put out for consultation, same-sex couples will be entitled to get married in a register office or convert existing civil partnerships.
But several government departments and companies will have to change their official forms for the more neutral terms.
An impact assessment, issued alongside the consultation document, said: "Changing legislation to allow same-sex couples to enter into a marriage will create some costs for certain government departments and agencies and for local government because changes will need to be made to IT systems and processes to remove references to marriage between a man and a woman."
The consultation has been dubbed a ‘sham’ by the Coalition for Marriage, a group supporting traditional marriage.
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