British House of Lords Votes for Church Civil Partnership Ceremonies

In yet another illustration of how rapidly the United Kingdom - the source of the USA's legal tradition - save for in Louisiana where the French Civil Code prevails - is diverging from the still religiously dominated laws of the USA. The new legislation will allow denominations that want to grant church ceremonies the right to do so - something that should always have been the case in my view. It is to me a sad commentary as to how far the USA has fallen from being a light of freedom to the world - particularly in states like Virginia where the Christian Taliban hold sway and true religious freedom is a joke. Here are some highlights from the Times of London:
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The House of Lords voted to lift the ban on civil partnership ceremonies in churches and other religious premises last night. Peers voted by 95 to 21 - a majority of 74 - to lift the ban which previously prevented gays and lesbians from getting “married” in such places.
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In a letter to The Times ten days ago, senior bishops including the Bishop of Salisbury and the Dean of Southwark expressed their support for the amendment, which was tabled by gay Labour peer Lord Alli.
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The move will result in an amendment to the Equalities Bill which would allow, though not compel, religious organisations to host civil partnerships. Religious language would also be permitted within the ceremonies.
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The law would allow ceremonies only among denominations who endorse gay marriage. The Quakers have already campaigned for the change in legislation, and Unitarians and liberal Jews have also already shown their support for the amendment.
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Ben Summerskill, Chief Executive of the gay rights campaigning group Stonewall, said that he was “absolutely delighted” with the result. He told The Times: “This was a very important issue of religious freedom because it was quite wrong in our view for the Church of England to be attempting to bully smaller denominations into not celebrating the lifelong relationships of gay people who have very strong religious faith.”
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I wish Barack Obama would take a note from this development and stop allowing his "personal religious beliefs" to hurt the equal rights of LGBT Americans.