Just in case anyone is thinking that this could mean equality. It doesn't.
There is no restoration of the marriages of trans people that were previously annulled as a precondition for getting a gender recognition certificate. Furthermore the spouse of a trans person must consent to the marriage continuing after the issuing of a gender recognition certificate.
Pension inheritance rights are fewer in the event of the death of a same sex marriage partner. The surviving partner is not entitled to receive the full value of the deceased person's pension. Employers are required by law to pay same-sex survivor's pensions based only on contributions made since 2005; although in practice many are likely to pay out from 1988 onwards. This means that pension contributions made many years before 2005/1988 are discounted and not received by the surviving same-sex marriage partner.
Rightly or wrongly, the existing grounds for the annulment of a marriage - non-consummation and adultery - do not apply in the case of same-sex marriages.
The Church of England and the Church in Wales are explicitly banned from performing religious same-sex marriages, even if they decide they want to.
The special requirements and costs of registering premises for the conduct of religious same-sex marriages are much harsher than for opposite-sex marriages in religious premises. In the case of shared premises, all other sharing faith organisations have to give their permission for the conduct of marriages involving LGBT people. In effect, they have a veto.
The legislation does not repeal the ban on opposite-sex civil partnerships. Straight couples continue to be banned from having a civil partnership, even though the government's own public consultation on equal marriage found that 61% of respondents supported the right of heterosexual couples to have a civil partnership if they desire one. Only 24% disagreed.
