UK Parliament / Open data

Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

Proceeding contribution from Yvette Cooper (Labour) in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 5 February 2013. It occurred during Debate on bills on Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman later, as I promised to do so to other Members first.

The number of clauses in the Bill that deal directly with religion is unusual and is reflected in the decision of all parties to hold free votes. Freedom of religion is rightly protected in the Bill, as the Minister set out. No Church or religious organisation can be required to conduct same-sex marriage, nor can an individual minister, and if a religious organisation or an individual minister refuses to hold same-sex marriages, that will not count as discrimination under the Equality Act 2010. The right hon. Lady set out in some detail her double, tripe, quadruple, even quintuple locks, and she has a padlock, Yale lock, bolt, chain and even burglar alarm as well. I hope, however, that she agrees that Churches should be able to change their mind to support same sex marriage in future if they want to, without unnecessary hurdles and barriers. The Church of England and the Church in Wales have additional hurdles built into the Bill which we need to scrutinise in Committee.

Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
558 c138 
Session
2012-13
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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