THE Government has insisted that it did consult church
representatives about protections for the Church of England to be
contained within the Government's same-sex-marriage
legislation.
The Minister for Women and Equalities, Maria Miller, announced
on Tuesday of last week, that the Bill, to be published next year,
would include a "quadruple lock" of measures that would "protect
religious freedom" (
News, 14 December). These would specify that it would be
illegal for any Church of England minister to conduct a same-sex
marriage.
At a meeting with parliamentarians on Thursday of last week, the
Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Tim Stevens, said that this level
of protection had not been mentioned in meetings with the
Government. He regretted that no prior consultation had been
sought.
But a blog post by Mrs Miller, published on the
Department for Culture, Media and Sport website last Friday, said
that it was "simply not correct" to suggest "that the Church of
England didn't know in advance about the legal protections we were
proposing. . . We sat down and had detailed, private discussions
with them prior to my statement in Parliament."
A letter was published in The
Sunday Telegraph this week, expressing "dismay" about the
fourth "lock" in the legislation, which specifies that it would be
illegal for C of E churches to marry same-sex couples. The letter's
signatories included the former Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Revd Lord
Harries, and the director of Changing Attitude, the Revd Colin
Coward.
The letter called on the C of E "to relinquish its exemption"
from the same-sex marriage legislation, "and address the
expectation of the majority in every parish that it will continue
to offer pastoral care to every citizen, including gay married
couples, and their children".
Two gay Christians indicated this week that they would sue the
Government for discrimination, because they would not be able to
marry in their parish church. Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, who
are in a civil partnership, told the gay news website, Pink
News: "Like many couples, we look forward to being married in
our local church . . . where our children were baptised. Now we are
to be banned in law because we are gay, even if the vicar wanted to
marry us."
A letter published in The Daily
Telegraph on Monday, signed by 58 MPs and peers - the majority
Conservative - indicated that the protections for religious groups
in the Government's same-sex marriage legislation had not reassured
Conservative backbenchers. It said: "The proposed redefinition of
marriage is unnecessary, given the legal rights established through
civil partnerships."
Letters