Gay Marriage, MPs vote next week Options

[Simon Kirby]

MPs vote next week on Gay Marriage - see the bill. It's a free vote so MPs will be voting with their conscience and not along party lines.

The act will give same-sex couples some of the same rights to marry as those enjoyed by opposite-sex couples, but intolerant religious groups will still be free to discriminate against gay couples who want to marry in their buildings, and the Church of England specifically will not be free to host a gay wedding even if the parish priest wanted to.

Dear Mr. Benyon

I'm married, and have been for the last 26 years. My marriage, and the public celebration of the committment that it signifies, has and will always be the single most significant act of my life. I can't imagine how intolerable it must be for other couples to be denied that same recognition of their love and committment for no better reason than their common gender.

I'm not happy that the discriminatory views of the religious have been protected in the Bill. No one has supernatural authority for their point of view, and this debate has made it clear to me that the disestablishment of the Church of England is well overdue.

Please support the Bill.

[On the edge]

Lets just follow the French example, all marriage is in effect civil, at the town hall. If you want anything else, that's up to you/

[Turin Machine]

Lets just follow the French example, all marriage is in effect civil, at the town hall. If you want anything else, that's up to you/

Indeed, and a jolly good system it is too!

What is of more concern is that we were promised tax breaks for married couples in the Consrvative manifesto, that has now gone the way of all such promises in favour of an incredible amount of parliamentry time in pushing through the gay marriage bill, all so the goverment can woo the 'pink voter' and show the electorate just how jolly well in touch they are with modern Britain in the hope of seeming to be 'right on'.

Very few conservatives welcolm this diversionary tactic in the middle of one of the worst financial crisis suffered in living memory. Froth and Bubbles as dear Pater use to say.

[Exhausted]

Indeed, and a jolly good system it is too!

What is of more concern is that we were promised tax breaks for married couples in the Consrvative manifesto, that has now gone the way of all such promises in favour of an incredible amount of parliamentry time in pushing through the gay marriage bill, all so the goverment can woo the 'pink voter' and show the electorate just how jolly well in touch they are with modern Britain in the hope of seeming to be 'right on'.

Very few conservatives welcolm this diversionary tactic in the middle of one of the worst financial crisis suffered in living memory. Froth and Bubbles as dear Pater use to say.

If a hetro couple want to get married in a religious environment then they can shop around. I would bet that 90% of the couples that are married don't go near a church during their day to day life and that like divorced persons, particularly Roman Catholics, then there are establishments where they cannot marry. As for gay marriages or gay civil partnerships, if that's what they want then that's fine. If the CofE or the Catholic church want out of the loop, then that's fine as well as far as I'm concerned. If it's infringing the rights of the gay couple by refusing them, it's also infringing the rights of the priest who is duty bound but not morally bound to conduct the ceremony.
If there are religious grounds, that are within their interpretation of their Bible, or whatever else they use, then that should be a strong enough reason for the community to stand back. Other religious groups interpret things differently and we uphold their personal difference. For example the Jehova's Witnesses who do not believe that they should accept blood. The only time the law might intervene is if a child is involved.
As you say, the government blowing smoke. I think gay partnerships are fine as it doesn't bother or affect me but I am a bit uncomfortable with gay adoption, but another subject no doubt and for which we may expect some discriminatory legislation.