The battle for equal marriage in
England and Wales did not
begin a year or two ago. It
started way back in 1992 when
the LGBT direct action group
OutRage! organised the first
challenge to the ban on samesex civil marriage. Five lesbian
and gay couples from OutRage!
filed marriage licence
applications at Westminster
Register Office in London on 19
March 1992. They were refused.
But this was the opening shot in
the long campaign for equal
marriage.
Twelve years later, while most
LGBT organisations accepted
the second best option of civil
partnerships when they were
legislated in 2004, OutRage!
continued the campaign for
marriage equality. We said that
civil partnerships were a
valuable advance but not good
enough. They were a well
meaning but second class
system that segregated samesex couples legally - and denied
them equality. Our view was
shared by the parallel equal
marriage campaign in Scotland,
spearheaded by the Equality
Network.
In the run-up to the 2010
general election, the
Conservatives were the only
major party with no gay rights
policies. Together with Tamsin
Omond, I organised a flashmob
protest outside Tory election
headquarters. As a result, David
Cameron arranged for us to
meet George Osborne and
Theresa May. At this meeting,
we urged them to agree to end
the ban on same-sex marriage.
They promised a review of the
ban if they were elected.
Three months after the election,
the Conservatives announced
that they had done a review and
had decided to keep the ban.
In response to this
intransigence, later in 2010 we
formed the broad-based Equal
Love coalition, with support
from cross-party MPs, MEPs,
trade unions, the National
Union of Students and secular,
humanist and LGBT religious
organisations.
http://bit.ly/1f9TH22
The Equal Love campaign was
dedicated to full equality in
civil marriage and civil
partnership law. We sought the
repeal of the twin legal bans on
same-sex civil marriages and
opposite-sex civil partnerships;
pressing for both systems to be
open to all couples, regardless
of sexual orientation or gender
identity.
That year, 2010, at the LGBT
Pride London parade, I
ambushed the newly-elected
Mayor of London, Boris
Johnson, and persuaded him,
in front of the national media,
to support same-sex marriage.
I got him to publicly reiterate
his commitment at a City Hall
reception just a few days
afterwards. Johnson's support
was crucial to making it safe
and respectable for Tory MPs
to back marriage equality.
Several did so, including
Margot James, Chloe Smith
and Mike Weatherley.
By late 2010, we had broad
cross-party support: the
Greens, Lib Dems and Labour
officially endorsed equal
marriage. But despite the
support of individual Tory
MPs, the Conservatives were
still not on side.
I began intensively lobbying
Tory MPs and party activists,
arguing that same-sex
marriage was consistent with
Conservative values; that it
chimed with their support for
the institution of marriage - an
argument that was later closely
echoed by David Cameron in
his pro-gay marriage speech to
the 2011 Tory party
conference.
When lobbying the
Conservatives, I deliberately
tried to frame the issue in
terms of Conservative values
which, although I do not share
them, would be most likely to
persuade more Tory MPs. I
argued:
“Marriage is a
Conservative value.
Tories encourage and
approve loving, stable
relationships because
enduring care and
commitment are good
for individuals,
families and for the
well-being of society
as a whole. Contrary
to what some people
say, gay marriage
doesn’t undermine
marriage, it
strengthens it. At a
time when large
numbers of
heterosexuals are
deserting marriage
and cohabiting
instead, shouldn’t
Conservatives see it
as a good thing that
many same-sex
couples still believe in
marriage and want to
be part of it? The
elimination of
discrimination in
marriage and
partnership law is
consistent with
modern, liberal
Conservatism, and
with the Prime
Minister’s personal
pledge to eradicate
homophobia and
secure gay equality.”
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