“Gay sex” cannot be used to quote adultery on a petition for divorce. If your husband has an affair with another man or if your wife has an affair with another woman it is not considered adultery in UK at this time.
In the Uk adultery is defined as: “Voluntary sexual intercourse between a man and a woman who are not married to each other but one of whom is married to someone else.”
Homosexual affairs being touted as a reason for separation or divorce is a popular search term right now. This is due to at least one high profile US celebrity couple separating and there being rumours of the man having a same sex relationship.
They cheated, what options do I have?
The problem is that a divorce will only be granted if the court is satisfied that the marriage has “irretrievably broken down”.
To prove that your marriage has “irretrievably broken down” one of 5 facts must be given in the application.
Adultery, unreasonable behaviour, desertion, separation for more than two years (both parties must agree) or separation for more than five years (does not require agreement). Adultery is one of the most common given ‘facts’ given for reasons to divorce however unreasonable behaviour is the most common.
If your spouse cheated on you with someone of the same sex you could potentially use ‘unreasonable behaviour’ instead of ‘adultery’ on the divorce petition.
Unreasonable behaviour is where one partner behaves in such a way that the other finds it intolerable to live with them.
Your spouse will have the option to deny allegations but not contest the divorce however they may want to argue their case depending on the reasons cited. Your best chance of a smooth and quick divorce is ’uncontested’. An Uncontested Divorce is far less expensive than a contested divorce.
However there should be a new law which will end the need for ’blame’ to be cited in divorce but that will not come into force until Autumn 2021.
Same sex marriages is legal, why not same sex adultery?
Same sex marriages were made legal in England and Wales and Scotland in 2014. Most people would think that other archaic laws surrounding marriage would be updated.
The current divorce law comes from the Matrimonial Causes Act which was passed 1973. The fact that the law is now 48 years old should give you some indication of how out of touch it is with modern sexual politics. Civil partnerships were not even being talked about back then.
So even though same sex relationships were given equality in the eyes of the law it was only ‘to a point’.
A petition was submitted in 2017 asking for the law to be updated however it only gained 221 signatures and closed in April 2019.
There are no plans to update the law in the UK.
If you need an experienced lawyer to advise you of your options, to draft all of the paperwork and handle your divorce from start to finish:
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