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<p>I want to make sure that all those who want a civil marriage, civil partnerships
and same-sex marriage in the Armed Forces receive the same treatment as their counterparts
who wish to marry in religious ceremonies. That is why I have asked the Department
to look into all options on making this a reality and have written to the Ministry
of Justice and the Minister for Women and Equalities pushing this issue. The relevant
legislation should be changed so that all members of the Armed Forces whether they
want religious ceremonies, civil partnerships or marriage, or same-sex marriage are
treated equally.</p><p>The Department conducted a pilot project in 2016, under the
Minister of the Armed Forces, to consider the feasibility of using the MOD estate
to host the registration of civil marriages or partnerships. This pilot identified
a change was required to the relevant legislation to deliver this ambition. The current
legislation does not allow for the MOD sites to limit who is married, and who attends
civil marriages, civil partnerships and same-sex marriages; this presents difficulties
in protecting security of MOD sites. The Department is working on how we fix this
anomaly and have written asking for legislative change.</p><p>Meanwhile, more widely
in the Armed Forces I am determined that the MOD should continue to be a leader in
supporting the LGBT community, and to build on the strong progress to date. We continue
to strive to be an employer of choice and are working hard to improve the culture
within defence to ensure that we attract and retain diverse talent, including those
from the LGBT community. Indeed, I was delighted the MOD was recently recognised in
the Stonewall Workplace Equality Index 2019, in which all three services have been
placed in the Top 100 LGBT inclusive employers listing.</p><p>In 2014, we made provision
to allow the marriages of same sex couples in military chapels, for those with demonstrable
link to the Armed Forces and provided that the chaplain and the chaplain's Sending
Church agreed. At present only the United Reformed Church (URC) permits its chaplains
to conduct such marriages, and the first religious marriage of a same sex couple on
Defence site took place at St Barbara's Church, HMS Excellent, Whale Island, Portsmouth
in 2017.</p>
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