U.K.: Law Proposed to Accommodate a Gay King or Queen

As Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, endure the final throes of pregnancy, Parliament is working on legislation to ensure that their firstborn child will be able to rule, no matter their sexual orientation.

Parliament will soon pass legislation to allow the royal couple's child to rule the United Kingdom whether the child is male or female. Labor MP Paul Flynn has an amendment to support an openly gay king or queen.

The law would determine the heir of the gay king or queen and their spouse or civil partner, as long as they were born through artificial insemination or surrogacy, according to Pink News. An adopted child would not legally be able to inherit the throne, nor would he or she join the line of succession, under current law, and it is not clear that Flynn's amendment would seek to change that. Furthermore, the king or queen's same-sex partner would be recognized as king consort or queen consort.

House of Commons speaker John Bercow is expected to accept the amendment, bringing it into debate.