There’s been a lot in the media today from opponents of equal marriage about how the state mustn’t go about redefining marriage.
What they keep on skating over is that equal marriage isn’t something cooked up by atheists and agnostics. It’s also – as Lynne Featherstone has pointed out – supported officially by Quakers, Liberal Jews and some Unitarian Churches, not to mention many people of other faiths that officially take a different view.
So, there we have it: equal marriage for same-sex couples in the civil law and the chance for religious groups to choose to offer same-sex religious marriage if they want to. It’s another step toward equality in front of the law for the LGBT community. The community has come a long way in the 43 years since the Stonewall riots in New York City.
And the Liberal Democrats have led the way in the UK. We were the first party to commit to a policy of civil partnerships, in a Private Members Bill, and at our conference in 2010 we were …
At the inaugural Attitude Awards, former Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister and current Minister for International Development, Lynne Featherstone received the Politician of the Year Award for her work to secure equal marriage for same-sex couples.
As much of the debate over the issue has descended into hysterical farce, we salute Lynne Featherstone for her clear and concise defence of the reforms. The minister has refused to be sidetracked, stating in March: ‘The
We are not going to have a mansion tax, or a new tax that is a percentage value of people’s properties.
Before you rush to spot the loophole in that – what about adding extra higher bands to Council Tax? – he opposed that too. Given Osborne made much of his reputation as was by opposing changes to inheritance tax, perhaps it is on capital gains tax that there will be room fro an agreement with the …
By Stephen Glenn
| Sat 29th September 2012 - 2:30 pm
There is a mechanism in the Northern Ireland Assembly that is designed to protect minority interests. It is called a petition of concern. Any 30 MLAs can call for one on any issue up for debate.
What it means that instead of simple majority the motion for debate requires 60% of the chamber and 40% of both the Unionist and Nationalist designations.
You may ask why I have highlighted this at the top of this post. The answer is to do with a debate before the Assembly on Monday 1 October, a debate on Equal Marriage, a motion largely similar to our …
Nick Clegg will allow Parliament to go further in its plans to legalise gay marriage and enable churches and other religious institutions to conduct the ceremonies, The Independent has learned…
In a letter to the Quakers, Unitarian and Free Christian churches and Liberal Judaism, who all want to conduct same-sex marriages, Mr Clegg indicated that religious groups could be given the option.
The Scottish Government announced this morning that it would legislate for full equal marriage in Scotland, giving same sex couples the right to marry and allowing those religious organisations who wish to conduct these marriage ceremonies to do so. No celebrant or religious organisation will be compelled to carry out marriage ceremonies for same sex couples. This is everything that campaigners for equal marriage have been asking for and is the culmination of a vibrant 4 year campaign which has won hearts and minds across Scotland.
Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made it clear that cross party support for equal marriage …
Equality campaigners across Scotland were quietly confident on Tuesday. It had been widely expected that the SNP Government would at least allow equality in civil marriage if not religious. After all, the measure had already secured the support of a majority of MSPs and the Equality and Human Rights Commission report suggest sthat it has the support of over 60% of Scots. The Government’s plans have, however, attracted vocal opposition from some religious organisations.
However, the Government announced that it was delaying the decision and setting up a Cabinet Committee to “further examine some particular issues of detail”. A …
As the academic year draws to a close, most young people are thinking about the summer ahead – not us though. At Liberal Youth we’re already planning for the next academic year and we want this year’s Freshers (the inaugural party / join-a-society week at the start of the academic term) to be the one that puts us back on the map.
The Freshers period is incredibly important to our organisation, more so now than ever. We’re not naive, we know the Liberal Democrats’ reputation on campus isn’t the same as it was a few years ago, but we’re working hard …
Way back in February 2010, Nick Clegg used the phrase “Love is same, straight or gay” in an interview with Pink News in which he expressed his support for equal marriage. That phrase has become a slogan of the Out4Marriage campaign.
He has reiterated that full support on many occasions since.
Today, Out4Marriage released a video he made for them explaining why he supports the right of all couples who love each other to marry as “a fundamental right in an equal society”.
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.
In a time of austerity and cutbacks, it is only right that Liberal Democrat Voice leads the way, so the traditional ‘three things to remember’ has been ruthlessly cut to a mere two.
Today’s the day the official consultation on equal marriage closes.
Step one then: if you have not yet responded, do so now.
I certainly don’t except us to agree on everything when it comes to religion. After all, you believe in God and I don’t.
But I am surprised how different the view of our country’s history seems to be. You and your colleagues talk about the prospect of equal marriage – a prospect it is worth remembering that other strands of the Christian family are welcoming, not to mention many members of the Church of England – as if it is one of the greatest threats to the Church of England in the last 500 years.
Time is running out to respond to the Government’s consultation on equal civil marriage which has been implemented by our own Lynne Featherstone.
It’s really important that everyone who believes in equal marriage should make sure that their voice is heard.
The consultation closes a week tomorrow, 14th June. Don’t leave it till the last minute – make sure you do it today.
If you’re unsure about the issues, those nice people at LGBT+ Lib Dems have prepared a helpful pack which outlines all the issues and arguments.
I also thought you might like to see the video Cambridge Liberal Democrat Councillor Sarah Brown did for the Out 4 Marriage campaign, which was reported in Pink News recently. She talks very movingly about how she and her wife had to dissolve their marriage in 2009 and opt for a civil partnership. She describes how painful it was to have their years of marriage “confiscated by the state”.
Tomorrow it’s a year since Willie Rennie became Scottish Liberal Democrat Leader. What have been the highlights of that first year?
Well, on his first day, I interviewed him for Liberal Democrat Voice and you can still listen to that here. He said that his priorities for his first hundred days were to work out what our message was, to sort out our organisation and to get out there and meet people, members and ordinary people on their doorsteps. So how has he done with these things and more?
MPs’ offices get stacks and stacks of mail. Every day all manner of things arrive, from invitations, to big glossy brochures from various organisations, to letters from constituents, to replies from letters written to various Government bodies on behalf of local residents, to thank you cards when problems have been resolved.
Today, Lynne Featherstone’s constituency office received a special surprise in the post. Ben and Jerry’s, in conjunction with Stonewall, had produced a specially designed ice cream tub, complete with the Equality Minister’s photograph and the title Lynne Honeycomb, to show the company’s support for Equal Marriage. Sadly for her office …
The following is the text of an email that I sent to a constituent earlier today. He wrote to me to ask about my views of the government’s proposals “to re-define marriage”, which he believes “will have far-reaching consequences… will have an adverse effect on the stability and flourishing of our local community.” I beg to differ.
Dear sir,
Thank you for your email regarding the government’s proposals to change the law on marriage in the United Kingdom. This is not a local authority matter, and so has no relevance to my role as a local councillor. However, as you have asked to know my views on this matter, I am happy to oblige.
At this rate the Daily Mail will soon become Lib Dems’ favourite reading… A few days after its front page proclaiming David Cameron’s lament‘I’d govern like a true Tory if it wasn’t for the Lib Dems’, the paper reports:
Two Ministers in the Coalition clashed last night over David Cameron’s plan to allow gay marriages.
Tim Loughton, Tory Minister for Children and Families, came under fire from Liberal Democrat partners after he said he was totally opposed to same-sex marriage and that the Prime Minister would do better
Pick and mix your allocation of blame between some Tory right-wing MPs and some political journalists, between deliberate deceit and genuine confusion as you wish, but as the dust settles on yesterday’s political stories about the Queen’s Speech the news is remarkably dull:
A Bill that was not going to be in the Queen’s Speech will not be in the Queen’s Speech, and
A Bill that was going to be in the Queen’s Speech will be in the Queen’s Speech.
Or in other words, ignore the nonsense about how the absence of an equal marriage Bill from the Queen’s Speech means the government …
The plan wasn’t for an equal marriage Bill to be in this Queen’s Speech, so the news that there will not be an equal marriage Bill in the Queen’s Speech is hardly news – even if some on the Tory right (unenlightened wing)* are trying to turn this into a story about how the government is backing down on the issue.
As Lynne Featherstone, Minister for Equalities, puts it on her blog:
In the aftermath of a tough set of election results for both Conservatives and Liberal Democrats – I couldn’t help but notice a few naysayers popping up in the
Regular readers will be aware that Liberal Democrat Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone is currently carrying out a consultation on the issue of allowing civil marriage for same sex couples in England. Last week Party President Tim Farron urged party members to respond positively to the Consultation, saying:
We have always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives. This is why I am member of our party and why I am so proud to be your President. It’s why we came into being in the 19th century to protect the rights of religious minorities. It’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be open to same-sex couples equally.
The Liberal Democrats in Government are now delivering on that. There’s an ongoing consultation on how best to deliver equal civil marriage, which will lead to new legislation in this Parliament. The Government consultation asks about the best way to implement equal civil marriage, and our party conference agreed that the best way to do that is in the context of full equality of marriage and civil partnerships.
The Coalition for Equal Marriage has now released a video which is clearly designed to melt hearts – and I know I’m a big softie, but it certainly worked with me.
You may well be sitting at your desk, overwhelmed by midweek blues. I guarantee this will make you smile. Enjoy.
With public consultation on proposals to introduce an equal right to marriage for all, Tim Farron has, this evening, urged Party members to take part.
“We have always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives. This is why I am member of our party and why I am so proud to be your President. It’s why we came into being in the 19th century to protect the rights of religious minorities. It’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be …
Bizarre comments from Labour MP Ben Bradshaw on the government’s plans for marriage equality:
This isn’t a priority for the gay community, which already won equal rights with civil partnerships. We’ve never needed the word ‘marriage’, and all it’s done now is get a bunch of bishops hot under the collar. We’ve been pragmatic, not making the mistake they have in the US, where the gay lobby has banged on about marriage.
The Progressive Christianity Network (PCN) is the latest British faith-based group to come out in favour of legal recognition of gay marriage.
Reverend John Churcher, a Methodist minister and chair of the PCN, said in response to comments from Roman Catholic bishops – who have urged Christians to campaign against the government’s proposal – that there are very few biblical texts that appear to condemn homosexuality, and that the interpretation of those that do is controversial…
There are now a range of Christian groups on both sides of the debate. Those groups who have expressed support for gay marriage
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?
One of our fundamental values as a party is our firm belief in equality. This is why I am member of our party and why I am so proud to be your President. We have always stood for individual liberty and the right to choose how we lead our lives. That’s why we came into being in the 19th century to protect the rights of religious minorities, it’s why we led the support for equality for women and why we decided before any other major party that civil marriage should be open to same-sex couples equally. The Liberal Democrats in …
Contrary to the pernicious article in the Guardian on Saturday, Lynne Featherstone MP, Minister for Equalities has worked her socks off to put equality and women’s rights at the top of the agenda for this Coalition Government.
And not only at the top of the agenda, but driving in every possible direction to ensure the rights of women (and also in particular the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people) are catapulted on to the front page of every tabloid and broadsheet paper and into the mainstream political debate and discussion.
So with all this extraordinary work, you would hope …
Waking up to the encouraging string of headlines as I did on Monday, I’m suddenly wondering if this is the point where we as a party have started getting it right?
If there are three uncontroversial elements to Lib Dem identity then equal marriage rights, campaigning against Trident and defending the individual (Nick Clegg launching the #thisisabuse campaign) are surely good starting points?
Conference is this weekend, so you could be forgiven for thinking these brilliant policies appear pre-emptively in our packs – but no, it’s almost as if we are a party of government: the Deputy Prime Minister appearing …
Tom Arms I meant to say that the UK supplies the nuclear warheads for its deterrent....
Tom Arms There are some areas where the US is likely to dominate for a very long time. Space is an obvious one. Ukraine would be up the proverbial creek without America'...
Ruth Bright @Paul is surely right, do we have age breakdowns for stats on members and active supporters?...
Tom Bailey Alex Macfie says:
"He [Farage], has just seized on one case of supposed “anti-white bias” by the police (the only one available)"
So the 3 decades of Brit...
Alex Macfie @Simon Robinson &c: Please stop pretending Nigel Farage is acting in good faith. He has just seized on one case of supposed "anti-white bias" by the police ...
There’s been a lot in the media today from opponents of equal marriage about how the state mustn’t go about redefining marriage.
…
Over on the Home Office website there is a simple* 
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