A same-sex couple in Northern Ireland is challenging the same-sex marriage ban, arguing that reducing their marriage to a civil partnership is unlawful discrimination. Gay marriage has been legal in the rest of the UK since 2013, but not in Northern Ireland. The couple, who filed the suit anonymously, married in London in 2014. A lawyer for the couple said the status devalues [Belfast Telegraph report] the marriage and has made the couple feel embarrassed and alienated. Amnesty International (AI) [advocacy website] welcomed the challenge, saying [press release] the law is absurd because the couple’s marriage is legally recognized in other areas of the UK, but is invalidated the moment they land in their native Northern Ireland.

Gay rights have been debated in Northern Ireland for several years. The Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) [party website] last week filed [JURIST report] a petition of concern, effectively blocking the region’s fifth attempt at legalizing same-sex marriage. A judge invalidated [JURIST report] the lifetime ban on gay men donating blood in October 2013, calling the law “irrational.” Officials in Northern Ireland announced [JURIST report] later that year that same-sex couples would now be allowed to adopt children, a year after a court struck down [JURIST report] a gay adoption ban.