Tag Archives: equality bill

Greg Mulholland to propose “complete separation of state marriage and religious weddings”

By The Voice | Sun 7th April 2013 - 4:00 pm

Lib Dem MP Greg Mulholland was one of seven Lib Dem MPs to abstain from the vote on same-sex marriage in February. He explained his reasons for doing so here:

I do agree unequivocally that all adults must be treated equally in terms of legal recognition of their relationship and the rights that they convey; the question is how best to deliver that at the same time as protecting freedom of conscience. These are two important rights and must both be delivered simultaneously. The problem is that as currently drafted, the Marriage Bill delivers neither of these. It is a confused and flawed piece of legislation that does not actually deliver equality as it proposes different definitions of marriage for heterosexual and same sex couples; nor does it sufficiently protect freedom of conscience for people with religious and other differing views of marriage. This is why I was unable to support the Bill at second reading, however nor did I want to vote against it or what would be misinterpreted as my being anti equal legal rights, which I am very clearly not.

Greg now has a proposal, though it’s far-reaching legislative changes may not be well-received at Westminster:

Posted in News | Also tagged greg mulholland and same sex marriage | 18 Comments

Opinion: The Equality Bill & religious faith – Church v State? Not so much.

By Paul Walter | Fri 29th January 2010 - 2:42 pm

This has been, for me, a very sad and confusing week. Last weekend I received an email asking me to sign a petition about amendments to the Equality Bill “which potentially will take away the right of every citizen to live according to their religious faiths and consciences.” The email contained the phrase: “By not signing the petition you are inviting your own oppression” – aimed at church-goers.

Naturally I was very alarmed by this email and commenced research on this subject.

Demurring from signing the petition, I watched the relevant House of Lords debate very closely.

Quite frankly I am still confused …

Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged religion | 13 Comments

Daily View 2×2: 29 December 2009

By Helen Duffett | Tue 29th December 2009 - 7:00 am

May I be the first to wish you, “Happy That Bit Between Christmas and New Year.”

Whether you’re at work, at home, working from home, or none of the above, here’s your Daily View for Tuesday:

Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal statesman and four-times Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. (By the way, remember to nominate your Liberal Voice of 2009 here.)

It’s also 34 years since the Sex Discrimination and Equal Pay Acts came into force, legislation which now faces overdue modernisation and streamlining by the Equality Bill.

2 Must-Read Blog Posts

What are other Liberal Democrat bloggers saying? Here are two posts that caught my eye from the Liberal Democrat Blogs aggregator:

Cameron’s potted plants underline the difference. Peter Black’s post (a late contender for my favourite blog post title of 2009) features a video of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tory candidate for North East Somerset, “a key Conservative candidate who reflects the views of many in his party that he is a member of the ruling class with a God-given right to be in Government and that as far as he is concerned the rest of us are just potted plants.”
Is photography the new crime? Andrew Reeves takes a photo of the police taking a photo of the protesters.

Spotted any other great posts in the last day from blogs that aren’t on the aggregator? Do post up a comment sharing them with us all.

2 Big Stories

Fury as China executes British drug smuggler

China was this morning condemned for its human rights record after a British man who, his supporters say, had mental health problems, was executed for smuggling drugs.

Akmal Shaikh, 53, was shot dead by a firing squad at 10.30am local time (2.30am British time) after frantic last-minute pleas for clemency by the Foreign Office failed.

Posted in Daily View | Also tagged akmal shaikh, andrew reeves, argentina, china, gay marriage, jacob rees-mogg, paul walter, peter black, photography and william gladstone | 1 Comment

NEW POLL: is it time to make job applications anonymous?

By Stephen Tall | Thu 2nd July 2009 - 10:00 am

Followers of Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone’s blog can’t have failed to notice her latest campaign – to bring in mandatory anonymous job applications “to end the subliminal discrimination that creeps in with some applications being discarded because of the names on them.” Specifically Lynne wants employers to remove names and replace them with a number on application letters/forms – otherwise “we end up with people not being discarded from the first sift of applications because their name shows they are black, female or old”. Lynne explained further:

… initial findings are of significant discrimination. And whilst it is

…

Posted in Voice polls | Also tagged equalities and lynne featherstone | 20 Comments

When spinning misleads: The Times and the Equality Bill

By Mark Pack | Tue 28th April 2009 - 12:20 pm

The question of pay audits has been one of the big areas of contention within the Government ahead of the publication this week of the Equality Bill. Should firms be required to carry out an audit to see if they are paying men and women the same rate for equivalent jobs? Should small firms be exempted? How small is small? Should there be an initial voluntary phase? And so on. At various times, different camps seem to have had the upper hand in this debate, with Peter Mandelson pushing for very little on this front and Harriet Harman pushing for …

Posted in News | Also tagged harriet harman and peter mandelson | Leave a comment

Op-eds

A Vision for a Sustainable NHS Workforce in Scotland (Tanvir Ahmad)
Tom Arms’ World Review (Tom Arms)
The Supreme Court Judgment will inspire more people to campaign for LGBT+ rights (Adrian Hyyrylainen-Trett)
Observations of an ex pat – MAGA vs the Liberal Elite (Tom Arms)
We have just entered a civil rights emergency (Chris Northwood)

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Tag Archives: equality bill

Greg Mulholland to propose “complete separation of state marriage and religious weddings”

Opinion: The Equality Bill & religious faith – Church v State? Not so much.