UK Ballroom Dance Council Moves to Ban Gay Couples

The UK's top ballroom dance authority is planning a big backward sashay when it comes to gay rights. The British Dance Council is considering a proposal that would ban same-sex couples from mainstream competitions, instead creating same-sex-only categories, the Guardian reports. The move would prevent the current leaders in the over-35 pre-championship category, John Church and Alex Lewall, from defending their title. "It's a totally regressive step and as far as we are concerned it would be the end of our dancing careers," Church says.

The proposed rule would recognize partnerships as "one man and one lady … unless otherwise stated." The council's president says that so far he's heard more support for the change than opposition. People are "disgruntled," he says, because "two men are physically stronger: For example, you wouldn't have two men playing in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon." But the current same-sex women's senior champ tells the BBC that physical strength isn't a major factor in dancing: "If it was the case we'd see the top competitors being big, strong couples and actually the opposite seems to be true." (More dance stories.)