Who we are

We’re Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan. We’ve been together for eight years and live in London with our very young children, toddler Eden and baby Ariel. Like many of the 3.3 million cohabiting couples in this country, we want to formalise our commitment. 

For us, a civil partnership best reflects who we are, how we see our relationship and our role as parents - a partnership of equals. We want a civil partnership to cement our commitment and strengthen the security of our family unit. 

However, when we tried to get a civil partnership at Chelsea Town Hall in London in 2014, the registry office told us that we couldn't simply because we were not of the same sex - civil partnerships are restricted to same-sex couples only.

This refusal spurred us on to launch a petition and a legal case in December 2014. Now, four years, three equalities ministers and two children later, the UK's highest court, the Supreme Court, will hear our case on 14th and 15th May 2018. 

Many of you have supported us over the last four years and there's no way we could have come this far without you. Please contribute now to ensure we can meet our future legal costs and share this page with friends and colleagues.

As the case has progressed, more and more people up and down the country have backed the effort: family lawyers and think-tanks, politicians from across the political spectrum, the Equal Civil Partnerships Campaign and 125,000 people who have signed our petition.

Why is our case so important?

There are well over 3 million unmarried cohabiting couples in the UK. Whilst the reasons for cohabiting vary, all suffer from the same lack of legal status and financial protections. If we can modernise the law in this area, a very large number of people potentially stand to benefit.

The case is of real interest and relevance for specialists in both family and human rights law.

Currently, cohabitees have virtually no legal protection. The opportunity that they could enjoy, should our case be successful, to formalise their relationship with a civil partnership will automatically provide the same protections that marriage does. Family law specialists will be keen to see people being removed from a problematic area legally. 

Click here for a timeline of our legal journey. 

The case has already proved of special interest in the field of human rights law. The Appeal court accepted that matters pertaining to cohabitees' rights like this do fall within the ambit of Article 8 of the ECHR, setting a precedent that has already been used in subsequent appeal cases  and helped other cohabitees to extend the limited rights they do have.

Everyone agrees this is discrimination but the Government says it’s okay to treat us differently while they make up their minds over a number of years. If we can establish that a “wait and see policy” is a breach of our human rights, we could help lots of other people facing discrimination to challenge unfair delays by the Government.

What do we need the money for?

We need to pay our solicitor's fees and fund the cost of producing the ‘bundles.' These are the collation of all documents pertaining to the case, properly paginated and well prepared. These need to be of the highest level when being brought before the highest court in the land, and each of the five Supreme Court Judges and 3 QCs needs their own bundle!  

Any additional funds raised here will be put towards the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign.

The outcome of this case matters to us but also to many others. Please contribute and share this page.