Abstract/Summary

This chapter surveys feminist responses to the enactment of formal recognition of same-sex relationships in the Civil Partnership Act 2004 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. Responses are grouped into four categories: celebrations of equal access to rights and privileges; celebrations of acceptance and full citizenship; critiques of state intervention and the institution of marriage; and claims (and responses to those claims) that same sex marriage will be better than opposite sex marriage because it is more equal and less gendered, and could bring about the positive transformation of the institution.