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Wow, this is big news.
'Gay weddings' become law in UK
Hundreds of gay couples are preparing to form civil partnerships in the coming weeks as the law changes after decades of campaigning.
At least 1,200 ceremonies are confirmed as being scheduled already, according to figures from councils compiled by the BBC News website.
Registrars are preparing for the first ceremonies, with couples permitted to register from Monday morning.
Campaigners says the law ends inequalities for same-sex couples.
The first ceremonies under the Civil Partnerships Act can take place in Northern Ireland on 19 December, followed by Scotland the next day and England and Wales on 21 December.
Under the law, couples who want to form a partnership must register their intentions with local councils. Unlike marriages, the signing of the legal partnership papers does not need to happen in public.
Bookings coming in
Hundreds of couples are expected to go ahead quickly, with Brighton conducting 198 ceremonies before the end of the year. Overall, the city has taken 510 bookings for the coming months, thought to be the highest in the country.
Other cities which have seen strong interest include London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Edinburgh.
PROVISIONAL BOOKINGS
Brighton and Hove: 510
Westminster: 140
Manchester: 88
Newcastle: 80
Birmingham: 70
Leeds: 60
Edinburgh: 76
Sheffield: 58
Nottingham: 50
Glasgow: 30
Cardiff: 24
Belfast: 20
Liverpool 20
Londonderry: 6
Aberdeen: 5 Source: Councils; not all ceremonies booked for December
Meg Munn, minister for equality, said the government expected 4,500 couples to get "partnered" in the first year.
"This is an important piece of legislation that gives legal recognition to relationships which until now were invisible in the eyes of the law," Ms Munn told the BBC News website.
"It accords people in same-sex relationships the same sort of rights and responsibilities that are available to married couples.
"We know there are people who have been together maybe 40 years and have been waiting for the chance to do this kind of thing, because of the important differences it makes to their lives.
"They have the same concerns as married couples - tenancy, ownership, pensions and inheritance."
HAVE YOUR SAY It's fantastic that everyone can now enjoy this long term commitment
Cheryl Shilvock, Surrey
Alan Wardle, of gay campaign group Stonewall, said the importance of the change should not be underestimated.
"Our view is that civil partnerships are transformative for the lives of individual couples and their rights, but also for society more generally.
"Society now legally recognises gay relationships for the first time.
"It's a big day but 21 December, when the first partnerships take place, will be even bigger because that will see gay and lesbian people removing discrimination."
But a spokesman for the one of the UK's major Christian groups told the BBC they believed same-sex couples should not get the same rights as married couples.
"If you transport something unique, like marriage, into a different context, there's always a cost. And the cost here is in terms of reduction of marriage and the undermining of it," Don Horrocks of the Evangelical Alliance said.
Reticent councils
Retailers are already beginning to cash in on the new partnerships.
FAMILY AFFAIRS There was a pause as my mother took this in - and I waited and eventually said, 'So what's it to be? A cup of tea or a Scotch?'
Percy Steven on telling his mother he was gay
A range of "Mr and Mr" and "Mrs and Mrs" cards will hit Asda supermarkets this week.
And sets of "Darling, Dearest, Queerest" embroidered towel and soaps went on sale at Superdrug stores on Friday.
Meanwhile, three short advertisements were published in the Births, Marriages and Deaths columns under the heading Civil partnerships in Monday's Times newspaper.
The heading is a new addition to the paper, which has carried family announcements for nearly 221 years.
Campaigners have focused on councils which have been equivocal about the new law.
Bromley in south-east London had initially planned not to offer public ceremonies. Lisburn in Northern Ireland also overturned a proposed ban.
Ms Munn said any councils dragging their feet needed to comply with the both the spirit and letter of the law.
"The legislation requires that every authority must offer a civil partnership. The basic level of that is a simple signing of a register - some couples may just want that alone.
"But if any councils are saying they won't allow [public] ceremonies, for couples who want that kind of celebration, then it's time they came into the 21st century."
Lol, I love how they mentioned how many ceremonies are going to take place in Brighton (the British San Francisco, if you get my drift). Ahh, that's so funny.
I'm happy as a clam today, even though I woke up at 5 pm, effectively missing each and every class and lecture I had today. Oops. I don't even remember hearing my alarm this morning... geez.
So, for the past few months, I've been wondering how my parents will find out that Jonathan and I are dating and when/how they'll meet him. Well, this weekend I got my answers. I let Jon borrow my laptop for the weekend (his is broken) and apparently XP logged him out for some reason. Of course, since my computer is password-protected and I don't have a cell phone yet, he was in quite a jam. The password hint was "Annelise's middle name" and he couldn't remember. So, being the resourceful guy he is, he used a friend's computer to email my parents, whose address he had noted from a half-finished email to my parents that was on the screen when I lent him my laptop. Apparently my mom and him corresponded no less than five times over the weekend. The funny thing is, my mom wanted to make sure he was who he said he was so she asked him all these questions, like when did I switch accommodation and what happened a week ago in Jonathan's room (she was referring to when I became violently ill after he had made me a nice pasta dinner... he had to carry saucepans full of my vomit from his room to the bathrooms... not a nice experience, I'm sure). Anyway, it sounds like the whole correspondence was quite amusing... best of all, my parents seem to like him a lot. I really look forward to April, when they'll all meet each other when my parents come to visit.
I made tres leches for my flat today. They liked it a lot, althought it wasn't quite up to my high tres leches standards. Ahh, I love living in a diverse flat. My german flatmate Marcel told me to leave my shoes outside my door because he has a feeling Saint Nicholas will visit tonight, lol. I take that as a hint that he's going to be stuffing our shoes full of candy and oranges. Hehe, it's nice to have so many different ways to celebrate the holidays. A couple of the girls are making a Christmas roast dinner, which will include English classics like Yorkshire puddings, gravy, etc. In turn, I'm going to make breakfast for everyone on saturday morning. They're really excited to have "American pancakes". Now if only I could get my hands on some maple syrup...