The Independent reports that David Cameron is supporting marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples despite the former Archbishop of Canterbury Carey’s speeches against equality:
Gay couples will finally win the right to marry, Downing Street insisted last night, despite an escalating campaign of opposition led by a former Archbishop of Canterbury and some Conservative MPs.
Lord Carey provoked an angry backlash from gay couples and campaigners as he denounced the move as a “hostile strike” on the traditional view of marriage. There will now be a furious battle ahead of this spring’s Queen’s Speech, in which proposals could be announced, with the aim of the first gay weddings taking place by 2015 at the latest.
Tory right-wingers gave their backing to a new pressure group, Coalition for Marriage, which accused the Government of having no mandate for the move – and claimed the public was on its side.
But Downing Street insisted that David Cameron remained determined to end the discrimination faced by homosexual couples. A senior source said: “Nothing has changed on this as far as he is concerned. He is very passionate about this subject – it is something that has defined him.”
The Home Office begins a consultation next month on how gay couples can be given the legal right to marry in a civil setting such as a register office. Lynne Featherstone, the Equalities Minister, told The Independent: “This Government is promoting a fair society where people respect each other.
More from The Independent :
Christian groups backed by former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey said they were sending 175,000 emails out this week inviting people to sign a petition opposing the introduction of same-sex marriage.
The group Coalition for Marriage (C4M) has said the Government has no democratic mandate to introduce the legislation and has betrayed a promise made by the last Labour administration to maintain a distinction between civil partnerships and marriage.
Lord Carey described plans to introduce same-sex marriage as a “hostile strike” and an act of “cultural and theological vandalism” against an institution dating back thousands of years.
Changing Attitude comments:
Lord Carey says he doesn’t begrudge rights and benefits to homosexual couples. Well, you could have fooled me. A glance at the list of signatories on the petition shows that the anti same-sex marriage campaign is supported by those who are hostile to the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the church and actively campaign to deny us any rights, benefits or equality in the church.
They oppose the acceptance of anyone not prepared to suppress desire for intimacy nor willing to eradicate any feelings of love which might draw them into a relationship with a person of the same sex. The petitioners refuse to believe that gay is a natural identity or that anyone is born gay. They support ex-gay ministries and advocate the healing of same-sex sinfulness to make people ‘normal’, which in their belief system means heterosexual.
Watch Lord Carey speak below: