The bill will be debated over two days with a final reading next
Tuesday when if passed it will go to the Lords where it is expected to face
more opposition.
Conservatives had offered an amendment to
allow heterosexual couples to have civil partnerships if gay couples
could get married.
Tim Loughton (Conservative MP) said the amendment would make the bill "less unpalatable since extending civil partnerships to co-habiting heterosexuals would address a "glaring inequality" in the current proposals as well as encouraging family stability.
Nick Clegg said he had no problem extending civil partnerships
to heterosexual couples as well.
On
Sunday, 34 current and former local party chairmen delivered a letter to
Downing Street opposing the gay marriage policy as "flawed,
un-Conservative, divisive and costing us dearly in votes and membership".
They said it was
causing "crisis of conservatism" saying that Europe, same-sex
marriage and the "contempt" for party membership from the leadership
were "destroying the party".
My thoughts...
Stop thinking about
your God forsaken party and start thinking about all the couples in the England
and Wales that are going to benefit from the same-sex marriage bill. Its
already taken this long for the bill to go to Parliament now lets just pass it,
with an amendment for civil partnerships for all if its going to make you
happy.
Happily, another
letter was sent to Cameron from 100 Tory activists praising him for his stance
on the policy.
Under the new Bill, Church of England
and Wales would be banned from performing same-sex marriages because of their
strong opposition and other religious organisations would be able to opt-in.
Last week France became the ninth
European country, and 14th in the world, to legalise gay marriage. Earlier this
month Rhode Island became the 10th US state to allow same-sex marriages.
All I can say is just
do it already for the sake of equality and freedom.
