On Tuesday, UK Ministers will vote on gay marriage. This report was originally published in February 2012 but it is as pertinent as ever:
In what is certain to ruffle many feathers the UK, the Coalition government is about to launch a consultation on gay marriage. Now it is not because I am straight that I feel a need to ask, is this the most pressing business in the UK? If it is either change it or don't. Launching what will become a lengthy, heated consultation process, costing presumably a ridiculous amount of money, is a slap in the face to all in the UK who are being told to tighten their belts.
We won't go down the road of how many Gays in Parliament will benefit from such a change. This blogger is not anti gay nor anti gay relationships. This blogger however is unsure about a Gay Marriage.
The BBC has a report titled "Church 'does not own marriage'. This blogger has no intention of going down what could be a tumultuos report trying to determine if that is true or not. She would however like to point out that many faiths have marriage between one man and one woman as their cornerstone. Some faiths have marriages with one man and countless women as their cornerstone too. As most faiths have been created by man, that is at least one man, polygamy is hardly surprising.In the UK our current Protestant faith developed out of a need for King Henry VIII to part company with one wife and take another.
The problem seems to be that in the UK we are so intent on playing fair and abiding by equality that once again we are in danger of getting it wrong.
In the UK currently a gay couple can have a civil partnership. This union enables the couple to "the same property rights as married opposite-sex couples, the same exemption as married couples on inheritance tax, social security and pension benefits, and also the ability to get parental responsibility for a partner's children,[2] as well as responsibility for reasonable maintenance of one's partner and their children, tenancy rights, full life insurance recognition, next of kin rights in hospitals, and others" (source Wikipedia).
If UK law changes a gay couple will have the option of a civil marriage or a marriage but a straight couple will not. For a straight couple it is marriage or not. This leaves such a couple choosing to live together in what is often called a common law marriage with less of the benefits. Of course the UK government may decide to revoke gay civil unions if they allow gay marriage but that is doubtful.
Once Gay Civil partnerships were legal in the UK some straight couples tried to jping together in this way. They were not allowed to do. Many people said, "why want this when you can have a marriage" Yes it is always hard to understand another persons view but yet we all expect people to understand ours.
Once again it could be a case of, in trying to be forward thinking and do the right thing the UK makes what is often called in this country a "cock up". Get a grip. Get it right and stick to your guns. No expensive consultancy should be necessary. YOU the government were elected to debate such issues. YOU are paid enough to do so. YOU should then make the decision. If not what are we paying you for and why are you in Parliament?
In what is certain to ruffle many feathers the UK, the Coalition government is about to launch a consultation on gay marriage. Now it is not because I am straight that I feel a need to ask, is this the most pressing business in the UK? If it is either change it or don't. Launching what will become a lengthy, heated consultation process, costing presumably a ridiculous amount of money, is a slap in the face to all in the UK who are being told to tighten their belts.
We won't go down the road of how many Gays in Parliament will benefit from such a change. This blogger is not anti gay nor anti gay relationships. This blogger however is unsure about a Gay Marriage.
The BBC has a report titled "Church 'does not own marriage'. This blogger has no intention of going down what could be a tumultuos report trying to determine if that is true or not. She would however like to point out that many faiths have marriage between one man and one woman as their cornerstone. Some faiths have marriages with one man and countless women as their cornerstone too. As most faiths have been created by man, that is at least one man, polygamy is hardly surprising.In the UK our current Protestant faith developed out of a need for King Henry VIII to part company with one wife and take another.
The problem seems to be that in the UK we are so intent on playing fair and abiding by equality that once again we are in danger of getting it wrong.
In the UK currently a gay couple can have a civil partnership. This union enables the couple to "the same property rights as married opposite-sex couples, the same exemption as married couples on inheritance tax, social security and pension benefits, and also the ability to get parental responsibility for a partner's children,[2] as well as responsibility for reasonable maintenance of one's partner and their children, tenancy rights, full life insurance recognition, next of kin rights in hospitals, and others" (source Wikipedia).
If UK law changes a gay couple will have the option of a civil marriage or a marriage but a straight couple will not. For a straight couple it is marriage or not. This leaves such a couple choosing to live together in what is often called a common law marriage with less of the benefits. Of course the UK government may decide to revoke gay civil unions if they allow gay marriage but that is doubtful.
Once Gay Civil partnerships were legal in the UK some straight couples tried to jping together in this way. They were not allowed to do. Many people said, "why want this when you can have a marriage" Yes it is always hard to understand another persons view but yet we all expect people to understand ours.
Once again it could be a case of, in trying to be forward thinking and do the right thing the UK makes what is often called in this country a "cock up". Get a grip. Get it right and stick to your guns. No expensive consultancy should be necessary. YOU the government were elected to debate such issues. YOU are paid enough to do so. YOU should then make the decision. If not what are we paying you for and why are you in Parliament?
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