LONDON – British home secretary and cabinet minister for equality, Theresa May, has stated that marriage should be for everyone regardless of their sexuality. Writing in The Times newspaper she strongly dismisses claims by the Church of England to determine who should be able to marry.
May writes, “… marriage should be for everyone, regardless of their sexual orientation. Society is stronger when people enter into a stable relationship; when they commit to each other; when they make binding vows to love, honor and cherish one another.”
May emphasized that the government proposals had nothing to do with the Church, “That’s why I want to emphasize that this has nothing to do with telling the Church – or any religious group – what to do. I want to be absolutely clear that we do not propose to touch religious marriage in any way. We are talking about civil marriage ceremonies – the sort currently conducted in register offices, country houses and hotels. Civil marriages can’t happen inside a church now and won’t under the proposals we are announcing.”
May continues, “Churches will continue to be able to teach, preach and practice their view that marriage can only be between a man and a woman, without fear of being sued. People of faith have nothing to fear from our proposals.”
May closes her piece writing, “Our proposals are motivated by the desire to strengthen our society by extending the right to marry. Marriage is one of the most important institutions we have. It binds us together, brings stability and makes us stronger. So I don’t believe that the state should stop people getting married unless there are very good reasons – and being gay isn’t one of them. If we believe that commitment, fidelity and marriage are good things then we should not restrict them, we should let them flourish.”
