Mixed-sex couples in the UK will soon be allowed to enter into civil partnerships

Marriage isn't for everyone. But, even if you don't want to be united in wedlock, it doesn't necessarily mean you don't want the legal security that comes with partnership.

Now, mixed-sex couples in the UK can look forward to having all the legal rights associated with marriage without the vows or the ceremony.

Mixed-sex couples will soon be given the right to enter into civil partnerships, UK Prime Minister Theresa May told the Evening Standard. That means that mixed-sex couples will have the same set of options for getting hitched as same-sex couples, who are able to choose between marriage and civil union (except in Northern Ireland, where same-sex couples are still not allowed to marry.)

The civil partnership was originally introduced to give same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples in a time when same sex marriage was not permitted in the UK. But opposite sex couples have long been fighting for the right to civil partnerships — something that originally was not made available to them because marriage offered the same set of legal rights.

"This change in the law helps protect the interests of opposite-sex couples who want to commit, want to formalise their relationship but don’t necessarily want to get married," May told Evening Standard.

There are many reasons mixed-sex couples might want the option of entering into civil union rather than marriage. Among them are the religious and historical connotations attached to the institution of marriage.

"Civil partnerships are a symmetrical, modern social institution conferring almost identical legal rights and responsibilities as marriage, but without its historical baggage, gendered provisions and social expectations," campaigner Rebecca Steinfeld wrote in a statement in 2016 calling for a judicial review of the Civil Partnership Act of 2004.

Opposite-sex civil partnerships became a hotly debated topic on social media after the Prime Minister's statement.

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Some users pointed out that civil partnership was originally a product of inequality, not equality.

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But a lot of people were happy that everyone now has the right to a civil partnership.

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UPDATE: Dec. 31, 2019, 10:39 a.m. EST The mixed couple civil partnerships change went into effect on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019.