Posts Tagged: gay marriage UK

Civil Union / Europe / Politicians — No Comments
15
Feb 11

SO WILL THE UK BE NEXT?

gay pride coloured union jack

There have been rumbles coming out of the UK for months – suggestions that the new government will back full marriage equality.  It is one of those notions that needs to be seen to be believed, I am afraid, which is why I haven’t yet jumped on the bandwagon.

Why? A number of reasons.

1) The nature of the Coalition Government in the UK (between Liberals and Conservatives) is that nothing is ever quite certain, even when all parts of the Coalition agree. In particular when it’s the minority partners in the Government, the Liberals, who are backing or implementing the idea. In this case, Lynne Featherstone, the Equalities Minister and @lfeatherstone on Twitter.

2) UK already has pretty good civil partnerships. So the need to address inequality is diminished in practice even if it remains just as strong in principle.

3) There has been a lack of unity among gay rights groups about marriage equality. Most famously the leading group Stonewall hid behind a chimera of ‘member democracy’ (it doesn’t have voting members) before finally backing equality in 2010. This was widely derided by nearly everyone from PinkNews down to the gay in the street. When your own side can’t agree, its not a good start.

4) The UK Government does actually have a series of unpopular and complicated budget challenges to deal with.  That could mean marriage equality is a great cost-free way to get back a bit of popularity (happy wedding photos beat photos of the many losers and victims of budget cuts) … it could also easily fall into the ‘too hard basket’

But on the whole I am optimistic.  I can’t show you because The Sunday Times of London newspaper now exists behind an online pay-wall, but it carried a very encouraging headline last Sunday: “Marriage law reforms expected this week to give full and equal rights to same sex marriage” …. fingers crossed! According to the paper the proposal to end the ban on same sex marriage will be announced at the same time as the government announces the time table for civil partnerships to be held in religious buildings.

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Civil Union / Europe / Miscellaneous / Personal Stories — No Comments
10
Nov 10

THE TYRANNY OF MARRIAGE

Cartoon by John Crowther

I thought it would be fun for once to publish the arguments against marriage … not the against the right to marriage, but against what the institution sometimes serves up even in 2010.

From the Guardian, and inspired by the UK campaign to make both marriage and civil unions open to all.

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Australia / Civil Union / Europe / Global / Marriage / Rights — 1 Comment
6
Oct 10

MY PROBLEM WITH STONEWALL

Where do I start?

You might wonder why someone who tries to understand the dilemmas of Australian Senator Penny Wong would be less charitable about a gay and lesbian rights organisation (like the UK’s Stonewall) being weak on marriage equality (their defence here).

The first difference is that Penny Wong isn’t paid to promote gay rights; Stonewall is. Secondly Penny Wong answers to millions of constituents who really don’t support equality. Secondly Stonewall answers only to gays and lesbians who – across all known data – do support marriage equality. Thirdly if one pitches oneself as “the” gay and lesbian charity, as Stonewall do in their slogan, then one has to represent properly.

As Stonewall co-founder Michael Cashman MEP puts it: “what part of equality doesn’t Stonewall understand?” And just as importantly, how did they put themselves in this corner?

Continue reading →

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Divorce / Europe / Monogomy — 1 Comment
23
Sep 10

GAYS TOGETHER STAY TOGETHER

LESBIAN wedding on TV's Little Britain

A Welsh lesbian wedding on "Little Britain"

Wedded gay and lesbian couples from Wales in the United Kingdom are far more likely to stay together than married straight couples.

While a quarter of marriages end in divorce within five years, just 3.2% of civil partnerships have been dissolved since they were introduced in December 2005. Only 47 of 1,447 civil partnerships have been dissolved (it’s not divorce in nearly equal but unequal UK)
According to one relationship counsellor interviewed by South Wales Echo newspaper, Denise Knowles, “People are entering into them because they desperately want to, not because they feel they ought to.”

Exactly.

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Civil Union / Europe — No Comments
22
Sep 10

NO REASON FOR STONEWALLING ON EQUALITY

ben summerskill

Let me be frank: I don’t give UK gay rights organisation Stonewall (or its leader Ben Summerskill) the benefit of the doubt over their position on marriage equality.

The controversy this week about whether Stonewall does or doesn’t support marriage, whether they will or won’t make an active campaign effort, is entirely unnecessary and entirely their own fault.

In terms of internal resources in doesn’t cost anything to say ‘I support equality.’  Whether all gays and lesbians want to exercise their theoretical marriage rights is also irrelevant. I didn’t campaign for an equal age of consent because I wanted to have sex with 17 year olds. I don’t support anti-bullying campaigns because I am bullied.  I support campaigns like marriage equality because I think gays and lesbians should have equal rights: full stop. period. finito.  One doesn’t have to want to be married to support the freedom to marry.

As the leading gay rights campaigners in the UK – where I pay my taxes and have many friends – I hope Stonewall would stand up for those rights.

The idea that one might oppose parallel marriage and civil union schemes being available to all couples on the basis of cost is ridiculous. The idea is that all those new couples joining up would have new tax benefits, and that Britons couldn’t or wouldn’t want to foot such as bill because of all their debt…. so what, there is a marriage quota now?  In bad years straight couples over the quota get turned away from the altar? I don’t think so. So why should gays and lesbians? If anyone is going to make this argument let it be finance ministers and homophobes, not our bloody spokespeople.

This isn’t about what Ben Summerskill said at one meeting or another. It’s about the ridiculous notion that after more than 20 years of existence Stonewall still doesn’t have a pro-marriage policy position. This appalling fact is a lesson for all mainstream gay and lesbian rights groups: don’t get too clever for your own good, don’t get too cosy with government and don’t get captured by a small groups of people in the A-Gay bubble.   The overwhelming majority of gays and lesbians want the freedom to marry (it ranges from 80-98% in most countries with advanced gay rights), and the majority of the population in the UK supports that too.  The problem group is usually politicians – who often have reasons, usually bad, to delay or stay silent or actively undermine us. So when politicians start actively campaigning for equality, as the UK Liberal Democrat party did this week, the least the main rights group could do is thank them and agree with them.

It’s a no-brainer, Stonewall.

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