As of December 5th, same-sex couples in Britain can now celebrate their wedding in a civil ceremony in places of worship that permit it.
However, this change in the law is not mandatory and has been the cause of much controversy.
The Secretary for Equal Rights Lynne Featherstone announced the repeal of a law that forbade Churches and other religious structures from celebrating civil unions under their roof.
But no place of worship will be forced to offer civil ceremonies and the Church of England has already said that it is not ready to give its blessing to homosexual couples.
A few months ago the Anglicans said there should be "absolute freedom" for the different religious traditions "to resolve these issues according to their convictions and their own internal procedures."
According to some Anglican prelates, the repeal of this law threatens to cause trouble anyway.
According to the Bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, there may also be situations in which the clergy is exposed to lawsuits for failing to provide services for its members based on their sexuality.
"I believe that this will not expose the entire Church of England but single individuals to charges of discrimination for celebrating marriages, but not civil unions in their churches," said Scott-Joynt in a meeting at the House of Lords.
On the other hand, civil marriages will be allowed by those groups - Quakers, progressive Jews and followers of the Unitarian Church - had put pressure on the government to repeal this law right from the beginning. But even among Anglicans there are those who think differently.
Last year, five bishops had written a letter to The Times in which they claimed it was unfair that same-sex couples were not offered the choice between a civil union and religious marriage.
For the Prime Minister David Cameron, who at his party’s conference in Manchester said he believed in gay marriage because marriage "is a conservative value," nevertheless it is an important step forward.
And this is also true for his government, apart from the ultra-conservative branch.
"We are committed to promoting equality for gay and bisexual people and ensuring freedom of religion and belief for all," Featherstone wrote in a written ministerial statement and added: "to promote both of these goals the Government is committed to removing any legal obstacle to the civil unions registered in places of worship where religious groups have chosen to allow it."
The storm over "gay marriages with blessings" continues unabated. A month and a half ago David Cameron’s government gave the green light to homosexual couples who wished to celebrate civil unions in church.
The announcement by the Secretary for Equal Rights, Lynne Featherstone, marked a turning point that will become active on December 5th. The reaction of the gay community across the Channel was immediate.
In Italy Fabrizio Marrazzo, spokesman for the Gay Center, invited leaders of the central right-wing to "follow the British model" and to "stop sending out anti-gay reactionary positions, and preventing bipartisan majority reforms."
During the recent Tory conference in Manchester which took place recently, Cameron announced that he believed in gay marriage because marriage "is a value shared by conservatives."
The initiative is only dear to the Tory prime minister and finds opposition is the more conservative of the Church of England and in the Catholic Church.
Now, at the request of civil rights groups and the conservative sectors of the United Kingdom, it is clear that participation is only "voluntary": churches are not forced to put it into effect.
Those groups, from Quakers to Unitarians, up to liberal Jews, who were pressing for the government’s approval, will surely do so.
Once the ban on civil unions in Church is lifted, the British government estimates that 1,500 homosexuals will take this opportunity to bring their partner or partners to the altar in a church or synagogue.
Each year in Britain 5,500 same-sex civil union ceremonies are celebrated.