Gay Marriage Consultation — 2 Days to Have Your Say

I’ve taken the lib­erty of copy­ing and past­ing the email as it came. I wrote about the con­sul­ta­tion on gay mar­riage here on Eng­lish Wed­ding Blog a few months ago: for a refresher, read is the wed­ding indus­try about to wake up to equal marriage?

from the Peter Tatchell Foundation

In three days time, the government’s pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion on legal­is­ing same-sex civil mar­riage will close. This Thurs­day, 14 June, is the end date for sub­mis­sions to the gov­ern­ment website.

Church lead­ers have mobilised over 500,000 peo­ple to sign a peti­tion against UK gov­ern­ment plans to allow same-sex cou­ples to marry in civil cer­e­monies in reg­is­ter offices.

We need to counter their oppo­si­tion to mar­riage equal­ity; oth­er­wise the anti-gay lobby may win.

Here’s how you can help:

Using the model sub­mis­sion below, please respond to the government’s pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion on legal­is­ing same-sex mar­riage here:

www.homeoffice.gov.uk/equal-civil-marriage

or here:

https://www.homeofficesurveys.homeoffice.gov.uk/v.asp?i=48356xhlqw

Copy and paste the model sub­mis­sion into Ques­tion 16 on the gov­ern­ment con­sul­ta­tion web­site. Per­son­alise and amend it, if you wish.

Please also email it to the Gov­ern­ment Equal­i­ties Office:

equalcivilmarriage@geo.gsi.gov.uk

Model sub­mis­sion:

I sup­port full equal­ity. I urge the gov­ern­ment to legalise:

Same-sex civil marriages

Opposite-sex civil partnerships

Reli­gious same-sex mar­riages by clergy who wish to con­duct them.

In addi­tion:

Civil part­ner­ships should be retained for gay and straight cou­ples who want an alter­na­tive to marriage.

Exist­ing civil part­ners should be given the option to con­vert their civil part­ner­ship into a civil mar­riage, with a spe­cial cer­e­mony if they desire this.

Any indi­vid­ual min­is­ter of reli­gion licensed to con­duct mar­riages should be free to con­duct a same-sex mar­riage in their place of wor­ship, if they wish to do so.

Mar­ried trans­gen­der peo­ple should not be required to divorce their spouse before they can receive a gen­der recog­ni­tion certificate.

The UK’s twin legal bans on same-sex civil mar­riages and opposite-sex civil part­ner­ships are unjust dis­crim­i­na­tion. In a demo­c­ra­tic soci­ety, every­one should be equal before the law. I urge that both civil mar­riages and civil part­ner­ships should be open to gay and het­ero­sex­ual cou­ples, with no dis­crim­i­na­tion based on sex­ual orientation.

Peter Tatchell, Direc­tor of the Peter Tatchell Foun­da­tion, writes:

“The UK gov­ern­ment is com­mit­ted to legalise same-sex civil mar­riage (not reli­gious mar­riage) by 2015. But it is refus­ing to legalise opposite-sex civil part­ner­ships and refus­ing to legalise same-sex reli­gious mar­riages by faith organ­i­sa­tions and clergy who want to con­duct them.

“The gov­ern­ment cur­rently has a con­sul­ta­tion process where it is seek­ing the views of the pub­lic. The dead­line for sub­mis­sions is 14 June 2012.

“It is very impor­tant that we make sub­mis­sions sup­port­ing equal­ity for all, includ­ing for LGBT cou­ples who wish to get mar­ried, for het­ero­sex­ual cou­ples who want a civil part­ner­ship and for same-sex cou­ples who’d like a reli­gious marriage.

“In a demo­c­ra­tic soci­ety we should all be equal before the law.

“The Uni­ver­sal Dec­la­ra­tion of Human Rights states that every­one is enti­tled to equal treat­ment and pro­tec­tion against dis­crim­i­na­tion, includ­ing the right to marry.

“Legal­is­ing same –sex mar­riage is the recog­ni­tion that LGBT peo­ple are of equal worth, equally part of human­ity and have the right to the equal val­i­da­tion of their love.

“The same prin­ci­ple of equal­ity applies in the case of civil part­ner­ships. Het­ero­sex­ual cou­ples should be able to have a civil part­ner­ship if they wish.

“Many het­ero­sex­u­als have sup­ported the cam­paigns for LGBT equal­ity. We should rec­i­p­ro­cate by sup­port­ing their right to a civil partnership.

“By par­tic­i­pat­ing in the pub­lic con­sul­ta­tion we can let the gov­ern­ment know that we want equal­ity in both civil mar­riage and civil part­ner­ship law. Help us send a mes­sage for uni­ver­sal equal rights,” said Mr Tatchell.

For fur­ther information:

Peter Tatchell, Direc­tor, Peter Tatchell Foun­da­tion
Peter@PeterTatchellFoundation.org
www.PeterTatchellFoundation.org