Lesbians use a legal loophole to tie knot

A "lesbian" couple were married in Britain's first legally binding same-sex wedding ceremony after one of them was able to produce a birth certificate proving she was born a boy.

Diane Maddox, 43, a trans-sexual, married her 23-year-old partner Clair Ward-Jackson at Aldershot, Hampshire, after the registrar decided he had no legal power to prevent the ceremony. Current laws in Britain prohibit same-sex marriage, but a person's gender is officially determined by what is on the birth certificate.

Ms Maddox said after the wedding: "It's a perfectly basic, simple love story. Clair and I love each other, we want to be together, we have the right to be married so we did it. We are not out to make any statement or trying to upset anyone. But ultimately we would like to see the law changed so gay couples can marry legally."

Ms Ward-Jackson added: "My mum has been totally opposed to this from the beginning. But in the end we don't care what anyone thinks because we are in love."