A heterosexual couple from London have travelled to the island in order to become civil partners.
Claire Beale and Martin Loat, who live in Ealing in west London with their two children aged 10 and 14, had their civil partnership ceremony at Douglas Registry Office, as civil partnerships are not available in the UK despite being legal since 2004 for same-sex couples.
Civil partnerships were made available for heterosexual couples in the island in July, after the Marriage and Civil Partnership Amendment Act came into effect on July 22.
The Isle of Man is the first place in the British Isles to allow opposite-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships as an alternative to marriage.
Claire and Martin, who have lived together since 1992, said they wanted a formal recognition of the relationship but have never wanted to get married.
‘We respect that other people in committed, lasting relationships might want to opt for marriage, but it’s not right for us,’ Martin said. ‘We regard ourselves as one of the millions of “happily unmarried” couples in the UK.
‘We want a less encumbered, light-touch civil union that recognises our relationship on our terms, free from the trappings and social pre-conditions of marriage, while protecting our family financially and in law.’
They hope that either the UK government will have to follow the Isle of Man’s lead and end discrimination against heterosexuals seeking civil partnerships, or that pressure will build until such a civil partnership formed in the Isle of Man will be deemed as valid in the UK.
Island residents Adeline Cosson, aged 24, and Kieran Hodgson, aged 22, became the first opposite-sex couple in the Isle of Man or British Isles to get a civil partnership on October 14.
Next month Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Kiedan, who are from London, will go to the Court of Appeal to argue that the ban on different-sex civil partnerships goes against the Human Rights Act.
The couple lost the first ruling on their case in January this year.
They decided to appeal following a wave of public support which has seen 70,000 people sign an online petition in support of civil partnerships being open to all, regardless of sexual orientation.