Absolutely.

Yes. Same-sex weddings at religious institutions have been going on in America for quite some time now, even though they are not recognized by law in many states here. While I certainly believe that the laws should be changed to make same-sex marriage legal both here and in the United Kingdom, a religious institution should always be a place of refuge for every congregant it serves -- no matter what the law says. Synagogues all over the US perform same-sex marriages, like Sha'ar Zahav in San Francisco, where marriages went from being not recognized by law, to being recognized, to now unfortunately not being recognized by law once again. In New York, Congregation Beth Simchat Torah performs many marriage ceremonies, even though gay marriage has never ever yet been legal in New York State. I hope that British government does allow for marriages to occur within the synagogues, whether or not they are officially recognized by the country. Israel, where laws are strongly influenced by an Orthodox rabbinate, is doing a very good job welcoming the LGBT community into its fold: http://www.thejewishweek.com/viewArticle/c361_a15821/News/Tel_Aviv_At_100.html

Sharon Udasin, staff writer at The Jewish Week
sharon@sharonudasin.com 
sharon@sharonudasin.com 
 
P.S. Since I also blog for Jewlicious.com in addition to writing for The Jewish Week I just posted the following, inspired by Jessica's article: http://www.jewlicious.com/2010/02/progress-for-lgbt-jews-and-non-jews-in-the-united-kingdom/