Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson

Sue Wilkinson

Wilkinson was born in 1954 and became interested in psychology after working part-time for a psychologist neighbor. Wilkinson completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Leicester, graduating with a BSc degree in psychology. From there, she proceeded to earn a PhD specialising in gender issues, particularly regarding the role of women in psychology.

Wilkinson's first academic post was as a lecturer at the University of Liverpool; following this she took position as Head of the Psychology department at Coventry University. In 1991, she co-founded the journal Feminism & Psychology, becoming its first editor-in-chief.

After Coventry, Wilkinson accepted a research post at the University of Hull, then left this post to accept a visiting professorship at the University of Waikato. After this position in 1999, Wilkinson was granted a full professorship at Loughborough, having been associated with the university since 1994. Despite this, Wilkinson decided to accept a sabbatical between 2001 and 2002; she spent this year firstly working at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and then serving as a visiting scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. The following year she took special leave to take chair as the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Professor of Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. Whilst in Canada, Kitzinger and Wilkinson decided to marry.

From 1994 to 2015, Wilkinson was on the faculty at Loughborough University In 2015, she accepted an honorary post at the University of York.

Marriage status

The couple married in Yaletown, Vancouver, in August 2003, a few weeks after same-sex marriage became legal in British Columbia, where Wilkinson had been working as a visiting professor at Simon Fraser University. On their return to the UK, the couple discovered that their relationship had no legal status. Two years later, with the implementation of the Civil Partnership Act, the relationship was automatically converted to a civil partnership.

The couple sued for the recognition of their marriage, the trial beginning on 5 June 2006 before Sir Mark Potter, President of the Family Division. For an overseas marriage to be recognised in the UK, it must be shown that the marriage was legal, recognised in the country in which it was executed, and that nothing in the country's law restricted freedom to marry; Kitzinger and Wilkinson argued that their marriage fulfilled these requirements even though people could not legally enter into same-sex marriages in the UK. They rejected entering a civil partnership, believing them to be both symbolically and practically a lesser substitute, and asked the court to recognise their overseas marriage in the same way that it would recognise the marriage of an opposite-sex couple. They argued that a failure to do so breached their human rights under Articles 8 (right to respect for privacy and family life), 12 (right to marry) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination), taken together with Article 8 and/or 12 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which was incorporated into domestic UK law by the Human Rights Act 1998.

In a 21 September 2005 press release issued by Liberty, the British civil rights organisation which supported their case, Kitzinger and Wilkinson said:

This is fundamentally about equality. We want our marriage to be recognised as a marriage - just like any other marriage made in Canada. It is insulting and discriminatory to be offered a civil partnership instead. Civil partnerships are an important step forward for same-sex couples, but they are not enough. We want full equality in marriage.

James Welch, Legal Director at Liberty, said:

Our clients entered into a legal marriage in Canada. It is a matter of fairness and equality that they should be treated the same way as any other couple who marries abroad: their marriage should be recognised here. They shouldn't have to settle for the second-best option of a civil partnership.

The High Court announced its judgment on 31 July 2006, finding that the marriage would continue to be recognised as a civil partnership in England and Wales, but not as a marriage. In handing down his ruling, the President of the Family Division, Sir Mark Potter, gave as his reason that "Abiding single sex relationships are in no way inferior, nor does English Law suggest that they are by according them recognition under the name of civil partnership" and that marriage was an "age-old institution" which, he suggested, was by "longstanding definition and acceptance" a relationship between a man and a woman. He described this as an "insurmountable hurdle" to the couple's case. While agreeing that they were discriminated against by the Civil Partnership Act 2004, he considered that "To the extent that by reason of that distinction it discriminates against same-sex partners, such discrimination has a legitimate aim, is reasonable and proportionate, and falls within the margin of appreciation accorded to Convention States." The Attorney General, as Second Respondent, sought £25,000 in costs.

Aftermath of case

The couple announced their intention to appeal against the decision of the High Court, but later abandoned this due to lack of funds. After losing the case, Kitzinger and Wilkinson stopped wearing their wedding rings in protest. Kitzinger stated that they lost hope that their marriage would be legally recognized in their lifetime.

On 13 March 2014, their overseas marriage was recognised by the Government as a legal marriage as the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 came into force. The couple celebrated with a private retreat and a bottle of champagne, putting their wedding rings back on at midnight.

Books

Kitzinger

• Kitzinger, Celia (1987). The Social Construction of Lesbianism. London; Newbury Park, Calif: SAGE Publications Limited. ISBN 0-8039-8116-3.
• Kitzinger, Celia; Perkins, Rachel (1993). Changing Our Minds: Lesbian Feminism and Psychology. New York London: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-4645-4.
• Thomas, Alison M.; Kitzinger, Celia (1997). Sexual Harassment: Contemporary Feminist Perspectives. Buckingham: Open Univ. Press. ISBN 0-335-19580-6.
• Coyle, Adrian; Kitzinger, Celia (2002). Lesbian and Gay Psychology: New Perspectives. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-1-4051-0222-3.

Wilkinson

• Wilkinson, Sue (1986). Feminist Social Psychology. Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire); Open University Press (Philadelphia). ISBN 0-335-15329-1.

Joint publications

• Wilkinson, Sue; Kitzinger, Celia (1993). Heterosexuality: A Feminism and Psychology Reader. London Newbury Park, Calif.: SAGE Publications Limited. ISBN 0-8039-8822-2.
• Wilkinson, Sue; Kitzinger, Celia (1994). Women and Health: Feminist Perspectives. s.l: Routledge. ISBN 0-7484-0148-2.
• Wilkinson, Sue; Kitzinger, Celia (1996). Representing the Other. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications Limited. ISBN 0-7619-5228-4.
• Wilkinson, Sue; Kitzinger, Celia (1996). Feminism and Discourse: Psychological Perspectives. London: SAGE Publications Limited. ISBN 0-8039-7801-4.