UK Equality Minister: Church’s Opposition to Gay Marriage Belongs in the Dark Ages

The virulent opposition to same sex marriage by the Roman Catholic Church is not unique to the United States as the ongoing uproar in the United Kingdom reveals. Like those in Iraq and elsewhere who seek to denigrate and even murder LGBT individuals, the Catholic Church in the UK, along with some within the Church of England have been whipping up anti-gay emotions. These people seem to believe the year is 1212 as opposed to 2012 and seek to cling to a Middle Ages level of ignorance and scientific knowledge. Fortunately, some in the government in the UK - unlike too many here in America - have the backbone to call this type of bigotry for what it is. One such political leader is the Minister for Equality, Lynne Featherstone (pictured at left), who, as Pink News reports, has called out the anti-gay religious forces. Here are highlights:

Mrs Featherstone told the Sunday Times: “This is about love and commitment and things that are good for society and families; it is a matter of celebrating love and commitment.” She added :“I have heard homophobic language used in connection with this very loving and progressive step.” She said the language use “belongs in the Dark Ages”.

“This is a live-and-let-live policy,” Mrs Featherstone told the newspaper . “We have no wish to cross over into territory that is not ours, no desire to stop those who believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman.

“They [the opponents] do not have to agree with this. But we will have to agree to disagree because for those who want to express their love in a civil marriage, then I think the state is here to facilitate that and to encourage it and rejoice in it.”

Mrs Featherstone reiterated that the Government will not propose to make it legal for Churches or Synagogues that wish to conduct same sex marriages to do so. This is in part to ally the fears of religious critics but PinkNews.co.uk understands that if significant numbers of people and organisations call for this during the consultation period that opens this week, the Government will consider adding provisions to legislation.

Mrs Featherstone said she was shocked by Cardinal O’Brien’s article in the Sunday Telegraph last week where he describes same sex marriage as a “grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right” and compared the Government’s support for it to introducing slavery.

Using language like ‘grotesque’ really only reinforces the fact that there is still discrimination against gay people. I know many many Catholics who are concerned by such vituperative language. I don’t want to get into any kind of argument with the churches or any of the religions.”

Echoing a joke made by Stonewall, she said: “Anyone who doesn’t agree with same-sex marriage should not marry someone of the same sex.”

The irony, of course, is that if the Catholic Church put as much effort into ridding its ranks of sexual predatory preists and those who have protected them, there'd be few in the Church hierarchy left to be waging war against CIVIL legal rights same sex couples. If anything is "grotesque" it's the Church hierarchy.