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Church gay ceremonies ban lifted
 04
Mar 2010- Peers have voted to lift the ban on same sex couples holding civil
partnership ceremonies inside churches.
The House of Lords agreed
an amendment to the Equality Bill which would allow, but not compel, religious
organisations to host the occasions.
Gay rights campaigners
celebrated the change, but opponents said it could be impractical and undermine
marriage.
Peers voted by a majority
of 74 in favour of the amendment, which was not backed by the government. It is
yet to be approved by the Commons, but it is thought to be unlikely that MPs
would make any significant changes.
'Religious freedom'
Labour peer Lord Alli
proposed the amendment, telling the Lords: "There are many gay and lesbian
couples who want to share their civil partnership with the congregations that
they worship with.
"And there are a number of
religious organisations that want to allow gay and lesbian couples to do exactly
that."
He said: "In the end it
comes down to an issue of religious freedom." It was not an "attack" on the
Church of England or the Catholic Church, he added.
Lord Alli said: "Religious
freedom requires us to let others do things that we ourselves would not do.
Religious freedom cannot begin and end with what one religion wants."
Lords leader Baroness
Royall and Conservative equality spokesman Baroness Morris of Bolton, a Roman
Catholic, both spoke against the amendment but later abstained.
Lady Royall warned of
potential practical difficulties which would have to be addressed in later
regulations.
Ben Summerskill, chief
executive of gay rights group Stonewall, said: "We are absolutely delighted with
this vote for religious freedom. It will be warmly welcomed by lesbian and gay
people of faith.
"We regret the government
spoke against equality but we hope they will now do the necessary drafting with
urgency."
'Next steps'
Lord Alli's cross-party
amendment was co-sponsored by Tory finance spokesman Baroness Noakes, retired
judge and crossbench peer Baroness Butler-Sloss and crossbencher Baroness
Campbell of Surbiton.
But the Bishop of
Bradford, the Rt Rev David James, who voted against the amendment, warned of
"unintended consequences".
He said: "When we consider
changes to the law, we need to be clear about what they are meant to achieve and
what, in practice, they do achieve."
He said there had been "no
practical difficulties so far" with the existing legislation, adding: "The
fundamental difficulty that many churches and faiths will have with this
arguments is that we, like the government and the courts, have been quite clear
ever since civil partnerships were introduced that they are not the same as
marriage."
Other opponents included
Conservative former cabinet ministers Lord Tebbit and Lord Waddington.
A Government Equalities
Office spokesman said: "Baroness Royall made the government's position clear
during the debate; we're now considering what steps to take next."
Civil partnerships were
legalised in England and Wales by the Civil Partnership Act of 2004, which came
into force the following year.
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