Gay marriage debate UK

My local MP was in favour of it, thankfully, though the one for where most of my friends live was absent... Let's all hope Lords' goes well! When is it, by the way?

 

Is Brighton not split into three constituencies? She's the MP for Pavilion, but there's also Hove and another I think. It's the south and a middle-ish class city so I'm gonna assume they're Tory seats.

Green MP Caroline Lucas: Today is a momentous moment for marriage equality - PinkNews.co.uk

 

My MP voted for it and she's a Conservative

 

If I remember rightly some of the Greens (and other ministers for that matter) were wary about the bill not because they're against marriage equality but because they were concerned that the bill, as presented, was flawed. I know that whilst a few naysayers were obvious doing so out of an issue directly related to the topic at hand, a few were seriously concerned about the wording.

 

My MP voted aye. xD

When do we find out if it's actually legal?

 

Russell Tovey tweeted this and this guy is a legend

[YOUTUBE]uWIoULRrvxM[/YOUTUBE]

Reference to bus boycott I thought was particularly good.

This picture also gives you a thought at how your area voted ( think)

 

It appears that a quarter of MP's for Welsh constituencies opposed it. Two of them were of the Labour party and the other eight were all the Conservative MP's for Wales.

 

That guy was awesome! :icon_bigg

 

It'll be a while yet. I believe it has two more readings in the Commons and then it has to go to the House of Lords. Cameron said it would be 2015 before it became legal

 

I heard that it was a no idk though

 

The UK follows a bicameral, or Westminster style parliament, in which there are two houses (If you are from the US, think how Congress also have the House of Reps and the Senate). The lower house is the House of Commons, Bills (draft legislations) are debated there, voted on, amended etc.

Once that is done, it would be passed to the upper house, i.e. the House of Lords. The House of Lords is charged with reviewing the bills, notify any problems they perceive in the bill, and vote against it if necessary. The Queen would only sign a bill into law if it has been passed by both houses (unless in very exceptional circumstances where the Parliament Act is exercised)

The main fear, I believe with the House of Lords are the crossbenchers, MPs that gained their seats due to their hereditary titles, as well as the spiritual lords, mostly high ranking clergy in the Church of England. Since i'm pretty sure these two groups of old bigots would vote no, if the Tories also have a significant number that changes their mind and votes no; then the bill will be defeated.

Let's hope that doesn't happen:icon_sad:

 

Get out there and volunteer for a campaign next election!

 

gay marriage is sorta pointless imo but this is good regardless

 

This was Second Reading. It has not passed the House of Commons.

To become law; it needs to pass 3 Readings in the House of Commons and 3 Readings in the House of Lords and then The Queen needs to give it Royal Assent. But usually Second Reading in each House is the most important reading as it follows the only major substantial debate.

 

It's good that in this part of the world our law isn't based almost entirely on religion. Nonetheless much of it is but thankfully as time goes on they both become further isolated to one and other. I agree Gay marriage is something that should not be against law but i don't think it should be against law to choose not to marry two people of the same sex. In other word's i think if law is to create more freedom for all then discrimination should not be against the law.

 

The Lords is not ceremonial. It has similar powers to the House of Commons but because they are not elected, they 'feel' less legitimate so they rarely throw out a bill that the lower House (Commons) has passed. However, it does happen.

What silkfrog said is mostly true; but not all of the crossbench Lords are heritary lords (nobles) or spiritual lords (clergy) and Lords are not "MPs". Some are chosen by an independant government agency that makes non-partisan appointments. So I don't think you can classify the crossbench lords as "old bigots".

The Spiritual Lords (Clergy) rarely vote at all unless it is what they call a "matter of concious" issue. This one probably is and they will vote but they are few in number. I think there are 25 Spiritual Lords and 74 Hereitary Lords out of 700+ Lords. I also, am not sure you can say because someone got their seat in the House of Lords through a heritary title they will vote no; many of them have not declared to support a political party and sit as cross bench members.

My guess however, is that if Gay Marriage passes the House of Commons -- it will pass the House of Lords because I doubt the Lords would block something so politically charged.

I'd still keep my fingers crossed but passing Second Reading Vote in the Commons at 400 to 175 is a pretty strong place for a bill to be. I think it will pass both Houses before the end of the year if not before Parliament rises for the Summer.

 

Poor Northern Ireland. This is part of an island that didn't legalise some contraceptives until the early 90's and still has one of the last remaining blanket bans on abortion in the Western World.

The Northern Irish and Scottish weren't even voting for a bill that was going to affect them!

 

This was on the TV in the hall at my school, and while we were having lunch, my best freind says "Really!? I knew Cameron (I think it was him, not sure) was for gays, but not this much!" Inside I felt slightly betrayed and avoided him for the rest of the day.