Peter Tatchell says gay marriage consultation delay is unjustified

Peter Tatchell says gay marriage consultation delay is unjustified

Peter Tatchell, coordinator of the Equal Love campaign, has said that there is no excuse for the delay in the consultation on gay marriage.
Peter Tatchell, coordinator of the Equal Love campaign, has said that there is no excuse for the delay in the consultation on gay marriage.

Equality Minister Lynne Featherstone announced on Saturday that the government would be holding a public consultation on legalising gay marriage from March next year .

However, Tatchell says this delay is unjustified: “This consultation was supposed to begin in June this year. There is no excuse for postponing it until March next year. Why can’t the consultation start now?

“I am not convinced that there needs to be any consultation at all. The ban on same-sex marriage is homophobic discrimination and should therefore be repealed immediately.

“No other government legislation is being subjected to such prolonged consultation and postponements.

“The Scottish government’s consultation on marriage equality began earlier this month. Why is the UK government dragging its feet and delaying the consultation until next spring? It doesn’t make sense.

“If black or Jewish people had been banned from marriage, the government would act swiftly to ensure marriage equality. There would be no long drawn out consultation period. Why the double standards?

“Despite the government’s assurances, there is a very serious danger that this delay will prevent marriage equality being passed before the next election. Because the consultation will not begin until March 2012, it is unlikely that legislation will be presented to parliament before mid-2013. Allowing for obstruction by the House of Lords, it is doubtful that it would be passed before late 2014, which is perilously close to the deadline for the next election. If the Prime Minister called an early election, the legislation would fall.

“Ending sexual orientation discrimination in marriage law is the right thing to do and it has majority public support. There is no reason for the government to delay in bringing forward legislation to end this legal iniquity.”

Tatchell also said that it was outrageous that Featherstone would be not be repealing the ban on gay religious marriages and straight civil partnerships as part of the consultation.

“It is outrageous that the Equality Minister wants to maintain the unequal, discriminatory laws that bar gay religious marriages and opposite-sex civil partnerships. She should be renamed the Minister for Inequality.”

Equal Love is campaigning to repeal the twin bans on gay civil marriages and heterosexual civil partnerships. It currently has an appeal against these bans before the European Court of Human Rights.