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Irish Wedding News

15/03/2012

Government Consultation On Gay Marriage Begins

A 12-week consultation on allowing gay marriage is set to be launched by the government.

While civil partnerships, introduced in 2005, give gay couples the same legal rights as married couples the government wants to go further by allowing them to make vows and declare that they are married.

Many senior church figures and some Conservative MPs have fiercely opposed the plans.

Ministers have said it would lift another barrier to equality.

The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for the change and David Cameron support the moves while in opposition, however a number of Conservative MPs argue that it will undermine the traditional idea of the family.

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During Commons questions about the consultation, Peter Bone, MP for Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, said: "Wouldn't it just be very simple to write back and say: 'Marriage is between a man and a woman so this is completely nuts'?"

Senior Catholics have also been very vocal in their condemnation of the plans.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, said the "grotesque" plans would "shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world" if implemented.

A week later, Roman Catholic congregations across England and Wales were read a letter from the Church's two most senior archbishops saying the change would reduce the significance of marriage and it was the duty of all Roman Catholics to make sure it did not happen.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of gay rights charity Stonewall, has said the issue was neither about religious freedom nor party politics.

"Ultimately it's about the freedom of a small group of people to be treated in exactly the same way as everyone else," he said.

(H)



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"A 12-week consultation on allowing gay marriage is set to be launched by the government."