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Senior Church of England clergy today called for an end to the ban on religious civil partnerships, saying that it is “inconsistent” and “plainly discriminatory” to ban churches willing to accommodate gay couples from conducting ceremonies.

The Bishop of Salisbury and the Dean of Southwark are among 20 signatories of a letter to The Times in support of Lord Waheed Alli’s amendment to the Equality Bill to remove these restrictions. The amendment was rejected last month but will be re-presented in the House of Lords on 2 March.

Gay-affirmative churches including the Quakers, Unitarians and Metropolitan Community Church are currently prohibited by law from performing religious civil partnerships as The Civil Partnerships Act 2004 explicitly bans any faith from hosting the ceremonies. They must be held in approved premises which are not used for religious ceremonies and cannot contain religious language.

The amendment would allow blessings and registration of civil partnerships in synagogues, mosques and all other religious premises.

The Green Party have also stated their support for the amendment, adopting policy opposing the ban at their Spring Conference last weekend. The policy, which will be included in the Party’s Manifesto for a Sustainable Society, makes the Greens the only political party in favour of allowing ceremonies in places of worship.

The motion was proposed by the Green’s human rights spokesperson, Peter Tatchell. He said: “The State is denying, by force of law, the right of religious bodies to treat same-sex couples equally. It is forcing them to discriminate, even when they don’t want to.”

The Government has not yet decided whether to back the amendment, with the Equalities Office saying that they are “still considering the matter”. Opposition to the amendment is expected from the conservative Christians who rejected it last month.

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