Former MP Ann Widdecombe has criticised the Government’s proposals to legalise same-sex ‘marriage’ at this year’s largest fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Supported by an audience of hundreds at the ‘Coalition for Marriage’ event this week, Ms Widdecome urged the Prime Minister to withdraw his same-sex 'marriage' plan, stating that his “personal conviction” on the issue was “doing a lot of damage” to the Conservative party.
Commenting on a draft speech in which Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described opponents of same-sex marriage as "bigots", Ms Widdecombe said:
"The real bigots, those who really deserve to be described as such, the real extremists, the real nasties, are those who believe that those who dissent from their views have no right to do so and that the state itself should silence them.
"Is there really no room for a proper examination of the alternative view to theirs?
"I think we need to throw the 'bigot' label back on them. Anybody who says you're a bigot if you disagree with them is a bigot.”
Ms Widdecome drew applause from attendees as she argued that opponents of same-sex marriage were "no longer free" to express their views on the issue, challenging David Cameron to explain how he “can even contemplate creating such a Britain”.
“MPs are free to speak their minds... but the people they govern are no longer free to speak their minds," she said.
"No society can be free without the freedom to dissent and no democracy real without the recognition of a plurality of views.
“David Cameron: Tell me how a party devoted to freedom, a party that has always opposed oppression and the power of the state over the individual, can even contemplate creating such a Britain?"
Ms Widdecombe warned that teachers, foster parents and ministers were likely to be penalised for refusing to endorse the proposals under anti-discrimination laws, and that a growing intolerance towards opposing views could eventually lead to the disestablishment of the Church of England.
"If the law of the land permits gay marriage the church will not be able to turn away same-sex couples. Even if we write that into our law it will be overruled by European law. We can't do it. We can't protect the churches, certainly not the established church.
“I know, David Cameron, that is not the sort of Britain you want,” she said.
Lord Carey
The arguments were echoed in a contribution by the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, who accused Mr Cameron of “plundering” the institution of marriage for reasons of political expediency, criticising the Government for meddling in an area that was best reserved for religious communities.
“Now, politicians in some Western countries have declared their intention to redefine marriage and have muscled in on areas of practice, theology and thought that have been the preserve of religious communities.
“The matter is so serious….We cannot allow politicians to plunder something as sacred as the institution of marriage.”
Lord Carey urged the Prime Minister not to “dabble” with marriage in a move which he said “strikes at the very fabric of society”, stressing the need to preserve the family as the “fundamental unit of any society”.
"Please don't dabble in the one institution which is going strong. The family built around a man and woman... is the fundamental social unit of any society.
"We need to strengthen marriage, not weaken it," he said.
When questioned about Mr Clegg’s ‘bigots’ remark, Mr Carey said that Britain was at risk of becoming a “totalitarian state” if opposing views on the issue were not respected, calling for the proposals to be debated by the Government “in a fair way”.
He added: "Let us remember the Jews in Nazi Germany. What started against them was when they started to be called names.
"And that was the first stage towards that totalitarian state. We have to resist them. We treasure democracy. We treasure our Christian inheritance and we want to debate this in a fair way.”
Mr Cameron reaffirmed, at a reception in Downing Street for homosexual activists in July, that he will legalise same-sex ‘marriage’ by 2015.
Sources:
Resources:
Christian Concern: Sexual Orientation
Christian Concern: Religious Freedom
The truth about same-sex ‘marriage’