U.K. law to allow gay church unions

LONDON — The British government Thursday announced plans to allow homosexual couples to hold civil partnership ceremonies in houses of worship.

The government said houses of worship can opt out if they wish.

Although marriage and civil partnership are already similar under British law, civil-partnership ceremonies arenot allowed to have religious references, are banned from places of worship and must take place in a public building overseen by a government registrar.

The new rules, being introduced under British equality laws, will give same-sex couples the chance to hold civil-partnership ceremonies in religious buildings.

In Britain, only heterosexual couples can get married, while civil partnership is available only to same-sex couples.

The change is a first step toward making civil partnerships more equal to marriages and there may be further changes to the law in this direction, the Home Office said.

Several religious affiliations, including the Catholic Church and British Muslim groups, have said they are strongly opposed to same-sex unions of any kind, and the government stressed that churches can opt out if they wish.