A GAY couple from Frinton are delighted to see a major law change allowing same-sex marriages for the first time.

Government plans were launched to legalise gay marriage in 2012 and the law has now officially been changed.

And a Frinton couple have celebrated the development, despite being happy within their civil partnership.

Richard West and Edgar Garcia Dizon, of Waltham Way, Frinton, tied the knot with a civil ceremony in March 2012.

Richard said: “There are still a lot of gay people who are happy with their civil partnerships and don’t need to get married.

“But it is exciting that the option is there and the law is catching up with changing attitudes.”

The law change means marriages between people of the same sex will have exactly the same standing in law as those between members of the opposite sex.

Church weddings for same-sex couples are now permitted, but religious officials are allowed to refuse to perform the ceremony.