Civil partnership conversion for landmark gay couple

Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane are one of 1,300 same-sex couples in Northern Ireland who can now convert their civil partnerships into marriages

Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane were the first gay men in the UK to get a civil partnership back in 2005.

But they were left in a legal limbo when the laws were changed to allow same-sex couples to get married in NI.

Those already in civil partnerships were denied the retrospective right to marriage, sparking a long legal battle.

As of Monday, more than 1,300 same-sex couples in Northern Ireland can convert their civil partnerships into marriages.

The Flanagan-Kanes were among the first going through the process.

Finance Minister Conor Murphy said 17 couples were expected to convert their civil partnerships to marriages on Monday, with a total of 32 planned for this week.

Mr Murphy said that as "a gesture of support", he had waived the conversion fee for those couples and for all couples who wish to convert their civil partnership to a marriage for a year.

'Love is love'

Looking forward to their ceremony, Chris said it was worth the court case to finally have their love recognised as equal.

"Love is love," he said. "If you fall in love, you want to get married and want the same rights as our heterosexual brothers and sisters.

"But in Northern Ireland we were denied the right to have equal marriage."

Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane with their son Aodhan

In 2005, they initially thought they would only be able to get a blessing as a recognition they were a couple.

But a chance phone call revealed they could actually be the first to use the new rights to a same-sex civil partnership.

"We come from a strong family unit and we always grew up believing that when you met somebody and you fall in love you go and get married," said Chris.

"Unfortunately we couldn't, but the next best thing then was to get a civil partnership so we waited for that."

Another important thing for the Flanagan-Kanes was to become parents together - but adoption for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland was banned until 2013.

When the ban was lifted and they successfully adopted their two children - Aodhan, eight, and Evelyn, two - Chris said they found there was still "discrimination" around civil partnerships.

He said: "When we were filling in primary school forms and ticking a civil partnership box, you were kind of setting yourself up for discrimination before anyone had even met you.

"We were going in somewhere with a big flashing sign saying 'I'm gay' - so other people with opinions on that or who were prejudiced against that, they were forming them already before they had even met you.

"So that was a big thing for us as well, about getting full, equal marriage rights."

Early anniversary gift

That experience meant the new parents increasingly felt they needed to be married as opposed to being in a civil partnership.

Chris said they did not want their children to grow up feeling their family was not worth as much as other families.

"It was for the kids and for the future," he said.

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"We don't want our kids growing up thinking we're not equal to everyone else in the world, that we're lesser people or we're doing something wrong.

"We'll have been in a civil partnership 15 years next month, we've got two kids - you know what, we're doing better than some heterosexual couples and we've lasted a lot longer too."

They teamed up with a lesbian couple in the same predicament, crowdfunded legal fees and took the NI Office to court over the decision not to allow conversions.

Chris and Henry Flanagan-Kane at their civil partnership ceremony in 2005

New regulations to allow conversions from 7 December were introduced to Parliament in October by Northern Ireland minister Robin Walker.

So on Monday, the Flanagan-Kanes will be able to hold their marriage ceremony at Belfast City Hall, which will be retrospectively applied back to 2005.

That means they can celebrate their 15th anniversary on 19 December as an officially married couple.

"It's been a long, long slog," he said.

"It's been through a lot of people fighting behind the scenes to try and get these rights.

"We're not asking for anything special - we're just looking for the same human rights as everyone else."