A LESBIAN couple are launching a legal challenge to the UK's refusal to recognise same-sex marriage.

Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson will lodge their case at the High Court, in London, today, in a move that could open the way for the removal of barriers to same-sex marriage.

The couple, who live near York, were married in British Columbia, Canada, two years ago. In 2003, Canada became the third country in the world, after the Netherlands and Belgium, to grant legal recognition to lesbian and gay marriages, and is the only country where it is available to non-nationals.

The couple say the UK's refusal to recognise their married status is unfair discrimination.

"Any other couple who did what we did, which was to go to Canada and marry, would have had their marriage recognised as legal," said Ms Kitzinger, a sociology professor at York University.

The couple are being represented by civil rights group Liberty and their fight is backed by gay rights campaigners OutRage!

Ms Wilkinson, also a sociology professor, said they married before Britain decided to introduce civil partnerships for lesbian and gay couples, which take effect in November

But she said: "Britain is introducing a system which is effectively an apartheid system, of marriage for heterosexual couples and civil partnerships for gay couples."

The High Court is expected to hear the case later this year, but Ms Wilkinson said they were prepared to take it to the European Court of Human Rights if the UK courts find against them.

Peter Tatchell, of OutRage!, said: "This is an historic challenge to a grave injustice. All other marriages conducted lawfully abroad are recognised in the UK. To refuse to recognise a lawful same-sex marriage is an act of appalling discrimination."

*'Worth fighting for' - Features section