Make Same Sex Marriage Available to Armed Forces Personnel Outside the United Kingdom — 5 Mar 2014 at 19:16

The majority of MPs voted to make same sex marriage available to armed forces personnel outside the UK.

The motion approved in the vote was:

• That the draft Overseas Marriage (Armed Forces) Order 2014, which was laid before this House on 24 January, be approved.

Key elements of the proposed law^[1]:

• The law enables members of the UK armed forces serving overseas, and relevant civilians, to marry in the presence of an authorised person. This includes marriage of both opposite and same sex couples.
• The law applies to armed services personnel, civilians who are subject to service discipline, as well as dependents of those people.
• The law limits same sex marriages to taking place in those countries or territories which have notified the Secretary of State in writing that there is no objection to such marriages.
• The regulations replace existing provisions so apply to the marriage of both opposite and same sex couples.
• There is a requirement to nominate a part of the UK in which the marriage is to be registered (Marriage of same sex couples is not lawful in Scotland, though there are proposals to introduce it going through the Scottish Parliament, and there are no plans to introduce it in Northern Ireland.)

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• [1] Explanatory memorandum to the draft Overseas Marriage (Armed Forces) Order 2014

Debate in Parliament | Source |