London's High Court has denied legal recognition to a lesbian couple who were married in Canada. President of the High Court Family Division, Sir Mark Potter said,

"The majority of people, or at least of governments ... regard marriage as an age-old institution, valued and valuable, respectable and respected, as a means not only of encouraging monogamy but also the procreation of children ... in a family unit in which both maternal and paternal influences are available ... Parliament has not called partnerships between persons of the same-sex marriage, not because they are considered inferior to the institution of marriage but because, as a matter of objective fact and common understanding ... they are indeed different."

Supporters of the couple of course resorted to the usual cries of discrimination, human rights violation, inequality and even "sexual apartheid" over the decision but one spokesperson was brave enough to admit that many same-sex couples actually object to civils partnerships being called marriage.