The deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, Simon Hughes, has said that the Government will allow same-sex couples to have “civil marriage” with the same legal status as marriage between a man and a woman, before the next general election.
He commented: “It would be appropriate in Britain in 2010 to have civil marriage for straight people and gay people equally,” he said.
“The state ought to give equality. We’re halfway there. I think we ought to be able to get there in this Parliament.”
Simon Hughes comments follow those made by Lynne Featherstone, the Equalities Minister, who said that the Government was considering allowing homosexual couples to have religious elements to their civil partnership ceremonies.
The full equality that Simon Hughes advocated would go further than Lynne Featherstone’s suggestions.
During the election campaign, the Conservatives were the only main party to suggest that they would consider allowing full homosexual ‘marriage’.
Andrea Minichiello Williams commented: “We should resist this attempt to undermine marriage at the heart of our society and fight to retain the traditional status of marriage as that between a man and a woman”.
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