Law permitting marriages of same-sex couples in England and Wales comes into force

Peter McGraith (left) and David Cabreza outside Islington Town Hall before their wedding due at midnight

Politicians from the main parties have hailed the change in the law.

David Cameron said the move sent a message that people were now equal "whether gay or straight", but some religious groups remain opposed.

Scotland passed a similar law in February; the first same-sex marriages are expected there in October. Northern Ireland has no plans to follow suit.

In an article for the Pink News website, the prime minister wrote: "This weekend is an important moment for our country."

'Feels safer'
The law change would encourage young people unsure of their sexuality, he added.

"It says we are a country that will continue to honour its proud traditions of respect, tolerance and equal worth.

Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg praised the legal change, saying "Britain will be a different place" as a result.

He congratulated his party for being part of the reform, saying: "If our change to the law means a single young man or young woman who wants to come out, but who is scared of what the world will say, now feels safer, stronger, taller - well, for me, getting into coalition government will have been worth it just for that."

Labour leader Ed Miliband congratulated gay couples planning to tie the knot.

"This is an incredibly happy time for so many gay couples and lesbian couples who will be getting married, but it's an incredibly proud time for our country as well, recognising equal marriage in law," he said.

However, he warned that the "battle for true equality" was not yet won.

'Unchartered territory'
Meanwhile Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said the Church of England would now drop its opposition to same-sex marriage, as Parliament had spoken.

"The law's changed, we accept the situation," he told the BBC.

It means there will now be two legal definitions of marriage, says the BBC's social affairs correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti - that recognised by the Church and that recognised by the state.

"The Church of England believes marriage is between one man and one woman for life," Graham James the Bishop of Norwich said.

"It's untidy for the law to have definitions... but I think we can live untidiness."

The CofE - which under the new law is prohibited from carrying out same-sex ceremonies - has urged clergy to support members of the congregation who are in same-sex marriages, but has ruled that priests themselves must not enter into one.

Some gay vicars, though, have said they are prepared to defy the bishops for the right to marry.


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