This is made in philosophy bites with me David Edmonds and me Nigel Warburton.

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In a few countries, same sex marriage exists.

In many, it is illegal.

But in some jurisdictions, though members of the same sex can't get married, they can have what's called a civil partnership.

Is this discriminatory?

Isn't civil partnership to all intents and purposes identical to marriage?

Is there any philosophical, any rational reason

to prohibit people of the same sex from tying the marriage not? Les Green is a law professor

at Oxford University. Les Green, a law professor at Oxford University.

Les Green, welcome to Philosophy Bites.

Thank you.

The topic we're going to focus on is same sex marriage.

Now this is often discussed as gay marriage.

Is that a synonymous term?

No, it's not a synonymous term.

Ordinarily, of course, people of the same sex who enter a marriage are both homosexuals

and usually homosexuals are the same sex, but they needn't be.

In our present regime, a gay man can marry a lesbian or a gay man can marry a straight women,

and in our civil partnership regime, two straight men can enter a civil partnership.

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