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House of Lords come out in favour of gaysThe Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement has welcomed the decision by the House of Lords to back an amendment to the Equality Bill put forward by Waheed Alli, a gay Muslim and Labour peer.
Currently heterosexual couples can choose to have either a religious or civil marriage whereas a same-sex couple cannot. The Rev Sharon Ferguson, Chief Executive of LGCM, said it was a wonderful first step towards equality and praised Stonewall for taking up the battle on behalf of lesbian and gay Christians. "The vote was overwhelmingly in favour, 95 votes to 21, which clearly expresses the Lords’ opinion that God should not be excluded from the celebration of our relationships," she said. "The claim by some that this will force religious organisations to perform same-sex ceremonies is false. The law does not force ministers and other religious leaders to marry opposite sex couples now, and won’t force them to conduct civil partnerships for same-sex couples.” The change to the law will, however, enable those organisations who wish to offer this to be able to do so. Several religious communities – Quakers, Liberal Judaism, Metropolitan Community Churches and many of the Unitarian and Free Christian Churches – have already expressed a wish to hold legally recognised religious ceremonies for same-sex partnerships.
LGCM will continue to campaign for full equality with regards to the legal recognition of same sex relationships. |   Follow Our Recent Tweets
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