Same-Sex marriage ... the row.

There's been a lot of media coverage of the Government's proposals around same-sex marriage. Bored? Don't be! Keep your interest up...

The Government Consultation

The public consultation on same-sex marriage has just opened. It is important for LGB and Trans people and our families and friends and supporters to log in in large numbers and support these proposals. It's not just about marriage, not any more.

Why it's important

We are seeing a homophobic and transphobic campaign against LGB and Trans equality. It is led by by Anglican and Catholic church leaders, MPs, and a loud group of influential and would-be-influential journalists and commentators.

The church leaders ought to remember the Pharisees and be ashamed; the MPs ought to know better than to try to ride the tiger of hatred; and the journalists... well, they're journalists, enough said.

This will not be the end. If the bigots succeed in blocking the Government's proposals on same-sex marriage, they will be newly empowered to fight to be allowed to discriminate in the provision of goods and services (shopping, hotels, even public services such as Registration). They will nudge all future legislation in anti-gay and anti-trans directions.

These are the forces that tried to prevent the equalisation of the Age of Consent, that tried to stop us from being able to adopt as couples, that blocked the repeal of Section 28 time after time, and that tried to destroy the Gender Recognition Act. We should not sit back and let them gather more power.

What is the Government proposing?

The Government wants same-sex couples to be equal — to be able to have civil marriages, rather than having to go for civil partnerships. (The Labour Government made it clear that civil partnerships were to be different from "real" marriage, and that means, inevitably, inferior.)

What is the Government NOT proposing?

The churches and all other religious organisations would have all the protection they want. Religious organisations will not be forced to conduct same-sex marriages or allow them on their premises.

The downside of that is that positive churches which want to welcome same-sex couples for religious marriages, such as the Quakers and the MCC, are not going to be allowed to. If you have views on that, do make them known when you fill in the consultation. We feel that where religious organisations want to treat us as equals, they shouuld be allowed to do so!

In that case...

Yes, in that case the whole religious campaign of bigotry is irrelevant: religious marriage won't be affected. That doesn't make their phobic campaign any less powerful, unfortunately. They've been running a private petition of their own, and at the last count there were 300,000 signatures opposing the Goverment's proposals. Yep, three hundred thousand. Assuming they all go on to sign the Government's official consultation, that's a lot of hostility.

We need to do better than that. So... please support the Government's proposals, and get your friends and family to do this too. We need every signature we can get.

Please do this!

You can fill in your response to the Government's consultation by going to:

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

Protect our equality into the future. The alternative would be very worrying.

Don't let the bigots win this critical round!

If you want to find out more about why same-sex marriage would be a good thing in itself, and where its real social value lies, have a look at Intercom's March newsletter (www.intercomtrust.org.uk/bulletins.)

Michael Halls, The Intercom Trust

We hope you enjoyed the holidays! We're back and updating the Collective website so as always feel free to email us with events or groups at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

For more information about this year's exciting Outset Festival visit our news page. It is being held at the Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre in Taunton, Somerset on Friday 10th - Sunday 12th February. Get your tickets now!

Happy New Year!

We have exciting news for you -  Vicky is back working at Intercom to arrange local collective meetings. She will be sending out information about it very soon! Welcome back, Vicky! (The South West is lucky to have regular Collective meetings where LGBT people have a chance to meet new people, get involved, and raise the issues that matter to them, and see if there are ways of making change happen.)

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