As these provisions make clear, redefining marriage redefines other core values our legal tradition has traditionally inscribed in marriage law:
Under a long-awaited bill allowing same-sex couples to marry, only infidelity between people of opposite genders would count as adultery in divorce cases.
It means that people in a same-sex marriages who discover that their spouse is unfaithful to them would not be able to divorce for adultery – unless it was with someone of the opposite sex.
Equally, it makes clear that straight people cannot accuse their partner of adultery if they discover they had a secret lover of the same sex.
It comes after Government legal experts failed to agree what constitutes “sex” between same-sex couples.
The bill also makes clear that gay couples would not be able to have their marriage annulled on grounds of non-consummation for the same reason.
Lawyers and MPs said the distinction over adultery created inequality between heterosexual and homosexual couples in the divorce courts and would lead to confusion.
They said it made it likely that adultery would simply be abolished as a grounds for divorce – either through Parliament or the courts. (UK Telegraph)
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