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Straight
Spinster Sisters
Sue For
Gay Partnership Rights
by
365Gay.com from the Web, September 4, 2006
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London -- Two elderly sisters
who live together say the British government is discriminating against them
because they are not lesbians and in a same-sex relationship.
The women, who have lived together since birth and have never married are suing
the government in the European Court of Human Rights.
In their lawsuit Joyce Burden and her sister Sybil, both in their 80s, claim
that when one of them dies the other would be required to pay massive
inheritance taxes.
They argue that the taxes would be unfair since unmarried same-sex couples are
exempt from the tax under the civil partnership law.
In court papers the women's lawyer says that when the law, allowing gay and
lesbian couples to register their partnerships and attain all of the rights of
marriage, was passed it should have included cohabitating family members who are
dependant on one another.
The lawsuit says that the women spent their lives looking after their parents
and inherited the family home, but when one of the sisters dies the other would
be required to pay an inheritance tax of about a half-million dollars.
That, says the lawsuit, would mean the survivor would have to sell the home in
which grew up and leave her with little money on which to live.
"If we were a lesbian couple, we would not be facing massive inheritance bills,"
88 year old Joyce Burden said Monday.
"It's clear we will not get any justice in this country, so we're going to the
European Court of Human Rights."
The lawsuit is based on two sections of the European Human Rights Convention:
the right to enjoy property and the non-discrimination provision.
The court will hear the case of September 12.
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