Britain’s House of Lords has been debating whether straight marriages should be renamed as ‘real’ or ‘traditional’ and if gay marriage should be called marriage at all.

Meanwhile the Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, has hinted the Church of England should give more recognition to gay and lesbian partnerships – asking why it is the Anglican Church would rather bless a ‘sheep’ or ‘tree’ than a same-sex couple.

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord George Carey is trying to wreck gay marriage in England and Wales by creating a new gold standard only straights can be part of – ‘traditional marriage’.

As a member of the House of Lords, he is proposing to amend the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill so it recognizes ‘traditional marriage’ as only being between a man and a woman.

The Church of England has accepted it is the will of parliament that gay and lesbian couples can marry – and will stop fighting it.

The Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, who leads the bishops in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper chamber of parliament, has made the statement today (5 June).

He said they will now try to ‘improve’ the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales, rather than trying to block it.

From a lord who wants to marry his own son and fancies his brother, to an ex archbishop who says marriage equality will lead to polygamy and Nazi persecution, the opponents of gay marriage in Britain's House of Lords are numerous and vocal.

So it will be a stormy debate today and tomorrow (3 and 4 June) when the Lords, the unelected upper chamber of the British parliament, get to debate and vote on the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales.

Church of England bosses have forced their own leader – Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby – to pull support for straight civil partnerships.

It is part of their official response to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales which the government is currently pushing through the UK parliament and which will be debated again today.

The Church of England is the state religion of Britain and its bishops will have a vote on the legislation when it reaches the House of Lords.

A group of LGBT Catholics and allies were threatened with arrest for staging a silent protest in front of New York City's St. Patrick's Cathedral.

The group stood outside the Fifth Avenue landmark with ash-covered hands, staging what they called a Dirty Hands Vigil in response to a blogpost published by Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan where he invited LGBT individuals to participate in the Catholic faith, but with the ‘clear expectation’ that they must first ‘wash your hands!’ of sin.

The Vatican will not take any further action against Cardinal Keith O’Brien, who has admitted to ‘sexual misconduct’ with four priests.

After the former Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh stepped down in February, there is no active investigation by the Catholic Church.

Senior figures in the Vatican do not believe a formal investigation is warranted as O’Brien has already admitted and apologized for his behavior, according to the Scotland on Sunday.

Last March, O’Brien admitted the claims and apologized.

Archbishop Piero Marini, the chamberlain to former Pope Benedict, has said the Catholic Church is changing and called for civil unions for gay couples.

Marini, who was a senior official for the conservative Benedict, recognized ‘same-sex couples need civil rights and civil unions. But we can not call them “marriage”’.

Speaking at a bishops’ meeting in Costa Rica, Central America, Marini commented also on the new Pope, Francis: ‘Now we can breathe fresh air, the church is changing.’

New Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby admits gay relationships have value but won’t shift on same-sex marriage, activist Peter Tatchell has said after meeting with him.

Tatchell urged Welby to reconsider gay marriage equality, apologize for past church persecution of LGBT people and engage with activists in Africa where parts of the Anglican church are leading a wave of homophobic hate.

But Tatchell emerged from meeting Archbishop Welby this afternoon (18 April) with an agreement to further dialogue as the biggest concession he could secure.

The South African Cardinal has said he cannot be accused of being homophobic as he does not know any gay people.

Wilfrid Napier, 72, was one of the 115 cardinals to pick the new pope last month and describes the promotion of gay rights as a ‘new kind of slavery’.

The Archbishop of Durban caused controversy last month when he said pedophilia is an ‘illness’ and not a criminal condition.

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, had an article published in the Daily Mail in which he essentially said Christians are being marginalized and persecuted because they weren’t able to marginalized and persecute the LGBT community.

The head of the Church of England Justin Welby has called for the Church to disagree ‘gracefully’ over divisive issues including gay marriage.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, who wasted no time in speaking out against gay marriage equality on his first official day in office this year, today gave an interview calling for Anglicans to demonstrate to society they can agree to disagree.