Gay couple postpone ‘divorce’
A gay man who was due to become the first to have a civil partnership dissolved has postponed the “divorce” to avoid being a “poster boy” for same sex couple’s ending their partnerships.
The civil partnership laws were implemented in the UK exactly a year ago today, meaning anyone wanting a ‘divorce’ can apply from now, however Darryl Bullock has deliberately avoided using today’s date to avoid unwanted publicity.
Mr Bullock and his partner Mark Godfrey will now wait until the new year.
The couple had been together for three years prior to their partnership. Mr Bullock told The Guardian: “I don’t want to be the face in the Guinness Book of Records.
“I don’t want to be the poster boy for the divorce generation. I am trying to end an unpleasant period in my life and move forward, and obviously that means I have had to instruct a solicitor to deal with my dissolution, but I am not trying to break any records.”
Last week, PinkNews.co.uk criticised the mainstream media’s obsession of finding a gay couple who were breaking up to coincide with the civil partnership anniversary.
Writing on the PinkNews.co.uk message boards, Mr Bullock, a freelance writer, said: “I did not announce my impending break for the sake of the press, nor for any reward. Nor was I hounded into making the announcement by the media.”
The story of his break-up had originally appeared in the Daily Telegraph
To end a civil partnership the couple must file a petition for a dissolution. It must include the reasons for their split.
Gay lawyers at QueerPod say there has been very little demand for legal advice to dissolve a civil partnership, and claimed most divorces were coming from heterosexual couples where one partner was planning a civil partnership.
