In the UK: "Gay marriage gets ministerial approval"
"Same-sex couples set to receive equal rights to marry, despite opposition from within the Conservative party"
Ministers have pledged to push through legislation to give same-sex couples equal rights to get married despite mounting opposition from within the Conservative party and the threat of a split with the Church of England.
Following a day in which it emerged that the Home Office has had more than 100,000 responses to its consultation, a petition against gay marriage has been signed by more than half a million people, and a poll by leading gay rights group Stonewall showed that four out of five people under 50 support the move to legalise gay marriage, one of the government's few openly gay minsters appealed for more "calm" in the debate and for supporters of the move to show respect for opponents.
Greg Barker, the Conservative climate minister, said: "What's important is, given how much the world has moved on in a good way in mainstreaming relationships [between gay couples] and how much acceptance there has been, we must now make sure this debate doesn't polarise opinion again and it's conducted in a civil and calm way, and we don't project the worst views of our opponents onto everyone who disagrees with us."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jun/12/gay-marriage-receive-ministerial-approval?CMP=twt_fd
Sometimes, we can envy other nations' ability to adapt to the changing times, other religious leadership to engage in respectful debate and come to rational conclusions.
Just saying. I sure hope things work out for our brothers and sisters, in a nationwide swing, supported by the major religious organizations, (of course there's some religious dissenters),
Anglican leaders ignited another heated debate on Tuesday by declaring that the government proposal could make the church stop carrying out legal weddings, and take a fundamental step towards .
(As my British young gay guy said to me in a Tweet today, "That
'separating the church and state' for us gay Brits, would be a Sundae with a cherry on top".)
but a positive move I wish we saw all over America, where we don't have a queen, nor a state religion.
