Sir Ian McKellen is annoyed by the UK's gay marriage law, which is categorized as a "civil partnership." The CP has virtually all the same rights as a marriage–but they are still strictly categorized as distinct from heterosexual marriage. Conversely, hetero couples are not allowed to apply for one, they can only wed in marriage. Says McKellen:

"I really can't see why the government couldn't just say gay people can get married – that would have been true equality and so much simpler.

"But that hasn't been done because they couldn't face the furore (sic). So they've passed a law that is not available to straight people.

"Straight people cannot have a civil partnership, they have to get married. Extraordinary."

We tend to agree–it's a lot of busywork for nothing. Perhaps there are hetero couples want to wed somehow, but balk at the notion of what "marriage" means as an institution: i.e., the father giving away his daughter to another man, the bride taking the husband's name, etc. Obviously, these people would be very, very few; the vast majority of brides wanting to get married don't think of the socio-historical implications of that walk down the aisle. They just want to (a) get married to the guy they love and (b) look gorgeous. A friend once said "Even the staunchest of feminists have read at least one bridal magazine."

But you never know what people may want to do. If it works for straight couples, why not let them do it? By not letting heterosexual couples engage in a civil partnership, in a way it acknowledges that the gay version is inferior.

With that said: we think it's just a matter of time before all these separate "straight marriage vs gay marriage" distinctions are thrown out, to make things easier. Remember when interracial marriage was illegal? Exactly.