Labour MP Ben Bradshaw: gay people aren’t bothered about marriage
Bizarre comments from Labour MP Ben Bradshaw on the government’s plans for marriage equality:
This isn’t a priority for the gay community, which already won equal rights with civil partnerships. We’ve never needed the word ‘marriage’, and all it’s done now is get a bunch of bishops hot under the collar. We’ve been pragmatic, not making the mistake they have in the US, where the gay lobby has banged on about marriage.
He’s not exactly standing up for equality.
As Pink News goes on to report:
In 2010, 98 per cent of PinkNews.co.uk readers that identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or trans said they wanted full marriage equality*. Mr Bradshaw’s party leader, Ed Miliband that year called for full marriage equality for gay couples in an article for PinkNews.co.uk.
Pink News has more on the story here.
* This was an online self-selecting survey
I think the "gay community" is no more homogeneous and identical than the "Muslim community" or any other group in society.
It's always a mistake to speak on behalf of a "community" that you haven't consulted, and no one has asked every gay and lesbian what their views are, so the claims on either side of the issue have been made by people who are expressing their own point of view, influenced perhaps by the gays in their circle. As a straight single woman who never married, and never wanted to, I think the institution appeals to some but not all of us, gay or straight. A gay friend who's had civil partnerships tell me that he and OH is content with that; they're not bothered about marriage either. It's become an equality issue for some, while others aren't interested. There's nothing bizarre about Ben Bradshaw's comments.
That should have read "a civil partnership". He's not a serial civil partner.