My Lords, I added my name to the amendment because I felt that it was not churlish, derogatory or demeaning. In fact, it indicates that those of us who have profound misgivings about the Bill have done all that we can to acknowledge the validity of the arguments of those who are its champions. All the amendment does is repeat certain words that are in the Bill. The noble Lord, Lord Pannick, or any other noble Lord can talk until he is blue in the face without altering the fact that there is a difference between a same-sex marriage and a marriage between a man and a woman. All this amendment does is acknowledge that. It concedes the word “marriage”.
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In the first series of amendments in Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, and I spoke to an amendment which used the word “union”. The noble Lord, Lord Alli, and others told us that that was offensive, although he recognised that we had not meant it to be. An amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Armstrong of
Ilminster, was a little stronger than the one moved this afternoon by my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay. The noble Lord, Lord Hylton, and I have not tabled our amendment again, and nor has the noble Lord, Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, tabled his. We have coalesced—and coalition is a good thing, so we are told—behind my noble and learned friend Lord Mackay in supporting his amendment. We have done so because we think that it demonstrates and underlines equality while recognising difference. That is the sole point and purpose of his amendment.
To the noble Lord, Lord Alli, for whom I have developed a very real regard during these debates, I say that this concedes that we have given up the fight against using the word “marriage”. However, we believe very strongly and very profoundly that there is an undeniable difference between the coming together of a man and a woman and the coming together of two men or two women. All we ask of those noble Lords who are enthusiastic about this Bill is in effect to meet us halfway. We have conceded on the word “marriage”. That will go into the new dictionary with its various definitions. All we want is recognition on the face of the Bill that there is a distinction and a difference between different sorts of union, but there is a pervading equality. It is a very modest amendment, and a very simple one.
I very much hope that the House will support the amendment because I know, as do noble Lords on all sides of the House, that throughout this country there are many people with real concerns about the social change implicit in enacting this Bill. None of us can prove what the majority view is, and we have already rehearsed that argument. Many people say that it is a generational thing; I do not know. What I do know is that my sons and daughters-in-law take the same line as I do on this, and assure me that most of their friends do likewise. That is anecdotal, and it proves absolutely nothing save to underline the fact that there are concerns. Let us meet those concerns with this extremely modest proposal.