Over on the Home Office website there is a simple* online survey as part of the consultation into introducing equal civil marriage.
It’s an issue that is being effectively pushed by Lib Dem Home Office Minister Lynne Featherstone, whose views on the topic you can read here.
If you haven’t yet given your views, why not head over to the Home Office website to do so? And if you have, why not share this post with others to encourage them to do so too?
The pro-equal civil marriage website AboutTime has a handy guide to the consultation.
* I say simple, though a couple of the answers are worded in slightly confusing ways. So take care not to rush too quickly if you don’t want to end up being recorded as holding views contrary to your actual opinions…
* Mark Pack is Party President and is the editor of Liberal Democrat Newswire.
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The About Time website is the work of LGBT+ Lib Dems, who have been working hard on this issue – from writing the party’s policy motion through collecting hundreds of petition signatures online through to designing the free leaflets you can get from our website for your local venues.
We’re one of the Lib Dems’ most active party bodies and receive no funding from the Federal Party. We support candidates, help local parties engage with LGBT+ communities, develop policy and campaign. White, middle-class able-bodied British gay men are not doing too badly, but we are still a long way off genuine equality for sexual and gender minorities, at home and especially abroad.
The claim that we’re a liberal party which supports equality and hence doesn’t need an LGBT+ organisation is false. We need a party body which will speak up for LGBT+ asylum seekers, give Lynne Featherstone the party support she needs to push for equal marriage, and help us reach out to local communities on local issues as well as LGBT+ specific ones.
If you care about these issues, even if you don’t think they affect you personally, join LGBT+ Lib Dems today.
Can we repeat this thread about once a week until the consultation ends as people who don’t log on for a few days at busy times may miss it….
Steve, you can share http://www.abouttime.org.uk/ on Twitter and Facebook to your heart’s content!
Mark, I did the consultation on Saturday evening and noticed that the wording on the radio buttons for the answers to questions 5 & 8 has been improved compared to the discussion on http://www.abouttime.org.uk/step-by-step/. They now look like this:
Question 5. The government does not propose to open up religious marriage to same-sex couples. Do you agree or disagree with this proposal?
Agree – religious marriage should not be opened up to same-sex couples
Disagree – religious marriage should be opened up to same-sex couples
Don’t know
Question 8. The government is not considering opening up civil partnerships to opposite-sex couples because we have been unable to identify a need for this. However, we appreciate that there are a number of views on this issue.
Do you agree or disagree with this proposal?
Agree – civil partnerships should not be opened up to opposite-sex couples
Disagree – civil partnerships should be opened up to opposite-sex couples
Don’t know
When exactly, post civil partnerships, did this become a pressing issue?
Rachel: That’s excellent news.
Rachel, thanks for the update – shame the Home Office never replied to our e-mails and phone calls about this!
David, for the same-sex couples who want to have a marriage rather than a separate-but-“equal” status, it’s been a pressing issue since before civil partnerships. For the people subject to homophobic and biphobic bullying who use that seperate-but-“equal” status to highlight the difference between “them” and “us”, it’s a pressing issue. For the churches who are forbidden by the state from carrying out a ceremony with their willing congregants, it’s a pressing issue. For the same-sex couples who wish to have their relationships recognised abroad, it’s a pressing issue. And for the Liberal Democrat party which voted overwhelmingly in favour of marriage equality as party policy, it’s a pressing issue.
This may not affect your life, but that’s no reason not to support equality for others.
It’s also needed to sort out the complete mess that was made of gender recognition for trans people 8 years ago.