life
Civil Status and Registation Office
Polish couple Anna and Lukasz getting married at the Dell
“If they’re not married to their partner, life can be very difficult for them.”
don’t require residence within the jurisdiction, as is the case in most other places.’ Equal rights for civil partners
gal terms, but the church will also carry out the religious ceremony, which is conducted in the eyes of God. ‘For marriages happening in a church, it is often that registry ceremonies will be conducted first and so the church will only conduct the religious ceremony,’ Michael tells me. The ability for same sex couples to forge a romantic union under the eyes of the law as a civil partnership was granted in March 2014, when the act was passed in Parliament. The first ceremony was held in May of that year, celebrating the union between Alicia and Nadine Muscat. ‘There have been relatively few civil partnerships, many of them local. What is the difference between civil partnership and marriage, you ask? Well, for a Gibraltarian in Gibraltar there is no real difference, it gives you the same rights, It applies the same purposes. The difference is in name only. When I conduct a civil partnership I can’t invite the bride to kiss the bride, I can’t say “this is your wife”, it’s purely the issue of the name. Although they are not husband and husband, or wife and wife in the legal sense, I’m sure they consider themselves so when they go home. It is feasible that I may be conducting marriages for the gay community reasonably soon. For my purposes, I am very much a supporter of that process. I think it’s important that everyone should be able to get married.’
Records of marriage in the Registry Office date back to April 1862, before that marriages were ‘dealt with by the churches. They would Records of provide a certificate that would marriage in be your civil status documenthe Registry The ceremony tation, which provides couples Office date Ceremonies are often seasonal, with the ability to exercise their back to leaving certain periods in the year rights in a democratic context, if April 1862... fairly dry for Michael, the height you go back three hundred years, of summer not being one of them. married couples had no bene‘The Alameda Gardens is one of the most fits or rights. It’s vital that people register popular locations, particularly in the births and have a record of their existence. summer. We hold the ceremony in the Dell Weddings conducted in the church as opwhich is completely still, and I’m wearposed to the Registry are all identical in leing my full suit and tie.’ The ceremony is professional and prompt, Michael urges me Gibraltar’s Registrar Michael Cumming marrying Amanda and Raymond at the office to sit in on the wedding of an older couple living in Spain, Amanda and Raymond, both soon to take the name Speers. A photographer snaps her way through the ceremony, held in the registry office, and witnessed by the couple’s two friends and Her Majesty the Queen, whose portrait hangs above the table at which vows and rings are swapped. The service concludes with the words ‘your union has been symbolised by the exchanging of these rings’ and the couple signing the registry. ‘It is dignified, it can be emotive, we struggle to keep it solemn and personal, yet also pleasant. People can be surprised when you’ve got a ceremony that is very limited in scope. I do get letters and emails in from people who tend to be very happy with the ceremony.’ As part of his role, Michael also registers births and deaths. An average day entails checking paperwork and meeting the cou44
GIBRALTAR MAGAZINE FEBRUARY 2016