Gay Marriage: Britain and France Governments Vote in Favour

[Guest fountainhall]

Last night the UK government voted overwhelmingly to approve gay marriage. The majority in favour was a whopping 225. So Britain now follows France which had a similar vote and similar result 3 days ago.
 
In the UK, however, the bill still has to be approved by the upper House of Lords. But there would be a huge public outcry if it was defeated after such a huge majority in the Commons.
 

 

Ben Summerskill, the chief executive of Stonewall, said: "As the last piece of the legislative jigsaw providing equality for gay people in Britain, this is a truly historic step forward.

"We're absolutely delighted that MPs have demonstrated so overwhelmingly that they're in touch with the 21st century. We anticipate, as always, a tough battle in the House of Lords. Happily, the size of the commons majority seen tonight – much larger than for most normal government business – will make it very difficult for peers to suggest that the bill should be rejected.

"Most people in Britain support equal marriage and will be delighted that we're now a step closer to it. We're grateful to the thousands of Stonewall supporters, many of them straight, who played a big part by contacting their MPs in support."

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/05/gay-marriage-vote-cameron-adrift

[TotallyOz]

This truly is fabulous news. Although I did think that GB already allowed this? Didn't Elton John get married already?

[Guest thaiworthy]

This truly is fabulous news. Although I did think that GB already allowed this?

 

You mean Gaybutton? I didn't know you could be married in Pattaya.

[Guest fountainhall]

Not sure of the law in Pattaya, but in the UK only legally acknowledged civil partnerships have been permissible up to now.

[Rogie]

Not sure of the law in Pattaya . . .

 

Is anybody . . .?

[TotallyOz]

France's lower house of parliament approved a sweeping bill on Tuesday to legalize gay marriage and allow same-sex couples to adopt children, handing a major legislative victory to President Francois Hollande's Socialists on a divisive social issue.

 

The measure, approved in the National Assembly in a 329-to-229 vote, puts France on track to join about a dozen mostly European nations that allow gay marriage and comes despite a string of recent demonstrations by opponents of the so-called "marriage for all" bill.

 

Polls indicate a narrow majority of French support legalizing gay marriage, though that support falls when questions about the adoption and conception of children come into play.

 

The Assembly has been debating the bill, and voting on its individual articles in recent weeks. The overall legislation now goes in the coming weeks to the Senate, which also is controlled by the governing Socialists and their allies.

 

With Tuesday's vote, France joins Britain in taking a major legislative step in recent weeks toward allowing gay marriage and adoption - making them the largest European countries to do so. The Netherlands, Belgium, Norway and Spain, as well as Argentina, Canada and South Africa have authorized gay marriage, along with nine U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

 

The issue has exposed fault lines between a progressive-minded leftist legislative majority in officially secular France, and the country's conservative religious roots. Critics - including many Roman Catholics - have railed that the bill would erode the traditional family. Socialists, however, sought to depict the issue as one of equal rights, and they played off France's famed Revolution-era motto of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."

 

"This law is going to extend to all families the protections guaranteed by the institution of marriage," Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said before Tuesday's vote. "Contrary to what those who vociferate against it say - fortunately they're in the minority - this law is going to strengthen the institution of marriage."

 

As with many major and controversial reforms in France, the issue drew its share of political grandstanding over weeks of debate. Conservative opponents forced a discussion of nearly 5,000 amendments, a move derided by Socialists as inconsequential stalling tactics. But by the final vote, the government rank-and-file rolled out grand, solemn statements of victory.

 

"This law is a first necessary step, a social evolution that benefits society overall," said Socialist representative Corinne Narassiguin, announcing her party's support for the measure. "Opening up marriage and adoption to homosexual couples is a very beautiful advance. ... It is an emblematic vote, a vote that will mark history."

 

However, the political right hasn't given up just yet, saying the Constitutional Court - whose 12 members include three former French presidents and several other prominent conservatives - will determine whether the law, if finally passed, meshes with the law of the land.

 

"So it's not the end of the story yet," said Herve Mariton, a member of the main opposition UMP party. "We still have arguments to make and we want to convince people that it is not a good project."

 

The government didn't get all it wanted. The Socialists last month backed off plans to link the gay marriage measure to relaxed restrictions on fertility treatments, after catching political heat for its stance on assisted reproduction. The issue is expected to come up in a separate bill later this year.

 

Hollande made legalizing gay marriage one of the planks in his 60-point program on the way to winning the presidency in May over conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy. But Hollande's popularity has fallen along with France's lackluster economic performance, and his foes on the right appear to sense he might be vulnerable on a high-profile social issue.

 

The latest polls suggest a narrow majority of French support gay marriage, but that has declined from about two-thirds support in August. In mid-January, at least 340,000 people swarmed on the Eiffel Tower to protest the plan to legalize gay marriage, according to police estimates. Two weeks later, about 125,000 proponents of the bill marched in the capital.

 

French civil unions, allowed since 1999, are at least as popular among heterosexuals as among gay and lesbian couples. But that law has no provisions for adoption or assisted reproduction.

 

http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020340380_apeufrancegaymarriage.html

[Guest]

The issue has exposed fault lines between a progressive-minded leftist legislative majority in officially secular France, and the country's conservative religious roots. Critics - including many Roman Catholics - have railed that the bill would erode the traditional family. Socialists, however, sought to depict the issue as one of equal rights, and they played off France's famed Revolution-era motto of "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity."

The Catholics and other religions are taking an essentially immoral stance by presuming they have the right to say what others can and cannot do.

Considering such flawed thinking on their part, why on earth do they get continued undeserved respect and the associated media coverage?

 

I don't quite follow this conservative religious v socialist argument though. In the US and Germany, perhaps the Conservative politicians have a religious link. In many other liberal democracies, the conservative politicians show no more support for religion than the socialists.

Also, the right of centre economic conservatives generally defend the freedoms of the individual quite strongly.

 

I struggle to think of any disadvantage of gay marriage to third parties. Arguably, gay couple are less likely to breed. So considering the overpopulation problem on the planet, they're actually less likely to harm wider society than heterosexual couples.

 

Anyhow, common sense has prevailed in France and Britain.

[Guest jomtien]

Did you mean to say "Please delete"?

[Guest thaiworthy]

Did you mean to say "Please delete"?

 

No, I think he meant to say "Pretty please delete with sugar on top."

[Bob]

No, I think he meant to say "Pretty please delete with sugar on top."

 

Well, thank god he's literate and didn't use any of that god damned profanity!

[Guest fountainhall]

. . . to say nothing of catty comments!

[Guest]

Did you mean to say "Please delete"?

Yes, of course. Please forgive my lack of courtesy on this point.

It was one of those "**** I've hit the quote button, rather than the edit button again" moments.

[Guest thaiworthy]

. . . to say nothing of catty comments!

 

[Guest thaiworthy]

Same-Sex Marriage Ban Challenge Tossed by Australia Judge

 

An Australian judge threw out a challenge to the nation’s ban on same-sex marriage, ruling it doesn’t amount to gender discrimination.

 

 

Neither gay men nor lesbians are allowed to marry under the legislation and thus both sexes are treated equally, Federal Court of Australia Justice Jayne Jagot said in her ruling in Sydney yesterday.

 

“A man cannot enter into the state of marriage as defined with another man just as a woman cannot enter into the state of marriage with another woman,” the judge wrote. “The redress for these circumstances lies in the political and not the legal arena.”

 

A private member’s bill that sought to amend Australia’s marriage act to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry was defeated in the nation’s parliament in September, with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Treasurer Wayne Swan among governing Labor party members joining the opposition coalition in defeating the legislation by 98 votes to 42. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron  earlier this month won a vote to legalize gay marriage in England and Wales, splitting his Tory party in the process, while France's lower house voted in favor of legalizing gay marriage on Feb. 12.

 

In her ruling, Jagot upheld the Australian Human Rights Commission’s decision to terminate a complaint from Simon Margan, a gay rights activist who sought an order directing the states of New South Wales and Queensland to register same-sex marriages.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-22/same-sex-marriage-ban-challenge-tossed-by-australia-judge.html