Gay marriage gets ministerial approval

This article is more than 6 years old
Same-sex couples set to receive equal rights to marry, despite opposition from within the Conservative party
Gay Wedding
Gay marriage has received ministerial approval, despite opposition from some within the Conservative party. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Ministers have pledged to push through legislation to give same-sex couples equal rights to get married despite mounting opposition from within the Conservative party and the threat of a split with the Church of England.

Following a day in which it emerged that the Home Office has had more than 100,000 responses to its consultation, a petition against gay marriage has been signed by more than half a million people, and a poll by leading gay rights group Stonewall showed that four out of five people under 50 support the move to legalise gay marriage, one of the government's few openly gay minsters appealed for more "calm" in the debate and for supporters of the move to show respect for opponents.

Greg Barker, the Conservative climate minister, said: "What's important is, given how much the world has moved on in a good way in mainstreaming relationships [between gay couples] and how much acceptance there has been, we must now make sure this debate doesn't polarise opinion again and it's conducted in a civil and calm way, and we don't project the worst views of our opponents onto everyone who disagrees with us."

Anglican leaders ignited another heated debate on Tuesday by declaring that the government proposal could make the church stop carrying out legal weddings, and take a fundamental step towards separating the church and state.

The unofficial leader of the group of 40 MPs in the most marginal Conservative seats, David Mowat, said that the proposal had angered party activists more than supporters. This was a particular danger for Tories in the hardest seats to win with few people to campaign for them.

The chairman of the Conservative Christian Fellowship, which, with about 1,000 members including 23 MPs, is one of the biggest constituencies in the party, said he would tell the Home Office that members were "predominantly" opposed to the move because they believe marriage is defined as a relationship between a man and woman.

Most Conservatives appeared to think most of the party's MPs would back the proposal in a free vote. But Mel Stride, a member of the 2020 group of MPs, said he believed his colleagues would vote against the legislation as it stood, perhaps by up to two to one.

The gay marriage consultation has generated what is believed to be the biggest response for a Home Office proposal, if not any government legislation. There was speculation that the time needed to go through all the replies could give the coalition an excuse to delay or even shelve the legislation.

However, a Downing Street spokesman said the government was "committed to legislate by 2015 – in this parliament". He also said that the proposal set out in the consultation was "very clear that no religious organisation will be forced to conduct same-sex marriages". In fact the consultation goes further, saying: "It will not be legally possible under these proposals for religious organisations to solemnise religious marriages for same-sex couples."

The spokesman said government lawyers were confident that legislation could be drawn up to protect the church against a legal challenge on equality rights for refusing to carry out gay marriages. However some MPs with a legal background expressed concern that this might not be possible.

One MP, who supports same-sex marriage, said the risk of a pressure group like Liberty mounting a legal case, and the ever-evolving nature of the European human rights act, meant the government risked being "a hostage to fortune".

Speaking to the BBC's Breakfast programme, the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Steven Croft, said: "It is a really, really fundamental change to an institution [marriage] which has been at the core of our society for hundreds of years, and which for the church is not a matter of social convention but of Christian doctrine and teaching."

Ben Summerskill, Stonewall's chief executive, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There's manifestly no evidence that the recognition of long-term, same-sex relationships has any impact on the institution of marriage for hetrosexuals."