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It’s not a matter of ‘if’ any more, says the Deputy Prime Minister
The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, and the Secretary of State for International Development, Andrew Mitchell, have both supported the case for legislation introducing same-sex marriage in recent interviews.
In a video broadcast on the Out4Marriage website, Mr Clegg said:
“I fought for equal marriage before I was in Government, and I’m even more committed to making it happen now – as a Liberal Democrat and as Deputy Prime Minister.”
Andrew Mitchell said in an interview with the New Statesman:
“I’m a supporter of gay marriage. If you look at the polling that’s been done, every cohort is in favour of gay marriage apart from the over-65s. If you explain to the over-65s that it’s civil marriage – not inflicting a view on the church – there is a narrow majority in favour.”
The interviews follow publication by the Church of England of its submission to the Government consultation on same-sex marriage. The submission said that ministerial assurances that the freedom of the Churches and other religious organisations would be safeguarded are, though genuine, of limited value given that once the law was changed the key decisions would be for the domestic and European courts.
Such a change, said the Church, would alter the intrinsic nature of marriage as the union of a man and a woman, as enshrined in human institutions throughout history.
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