Pre-heat the debate to 1000°C (for fan-assisted debates consult your hyperbole and scaremongering manual at www.c4m.org.uk). Then, to an unsuspecting social network add an average gay couple from Newcastle, experience in web development, some amazing volunteers and zero funding. Leave for 114 days (either side of day jobs) and you end up with:
- over 60k supporters
- 131,346 visitors
- 11.3k tweets
- 2353 Twitter followers
- 42,328 Likes
- 770k YouTube views
- A genuine grass-roots campaign for marriage equality in England and Wales.
The closing of the consultation gives an opportunity to pause and consider how we got here. The Liberal Democrats became the first major political party to officially support same-sex marriage in September 2010. In September 2011 the Coalition Government announced it would consult on legalising same-sex marriage by 2015, which was generally greeted with a warm welcome and a mixture of “It’s about time” and “Why not?” by most.