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June 18, 2013
Lords debate calling gay marriage 'unions' and blessing 'sheep' over gay couples

Britain’s House of Lords has been debating the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill in detail with opponents suggesting alternatives to full equality

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.

June 15, 2013
Anti-gay MP Edward Leigh knighted by Queen Elizabeth II

The gay marriage opponent and right-wing Tory MP Edward Leigh received royal honors from Queen Elizabeth II for his public and political service

A leading opponent of gay marriage in England and Wales has been knighted by Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

MP for Gainsborough Sir Edward Leigh was knighted during the Queen’s Birthday Honours, where new royal honours are announced during a celebration of the reigning queen’s birthday.

June 13, 2013
Bid to destroy gay marriage with new register for straights only

New ‘bigots’ register’ for England and Wales would allow opposite-sex couples to be separately registered as having a ‘traditional marriage’

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.

June 13, 2013
England and South Africa cricketers break for HIV test

Tredwell, Duminy and Miller take time out from ICC Champions Trophy to learn about living with HIV and get tested

England and South Africa cricket stars took time out from the ICC Champions Trophy to get tested for HIV.

Players from the South Africa team – JP Duminy, David Miller, Aaron Phangiso, Farhaan Behardien and assistant coach Russell Domingo – also met people living with HIV in Wales to learn about the stigma they experience in everyday life.

While England players James Tredwell, Ravi Bopara and Jos Buttler visited gay HIV charities Terrence Higgins Trust and The Food Chain in London on Tuesday (12 June)

June 12, 2013
It’s time for LGBT people to lead in business

A new network group for top LGBT executives is launching today, aimed at getting more gay and trans people to the head of the boardroom table, it’s boss, Suki Sandhu explains more

Two questions troubled me recently: Why are there no openly gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender executives leading any of the FTSE 100 companies? And secondly, when I attend many of the otherwise excellent existing LGBT business networks do I never see people at senior executive level?

These questions suggested to me something needs to change. That is why I set up OUTstanding In Business, a new network for LGBT executives in the UK.

June 10, 2013
The changes the Lords should make so trans people get marriage rights

A trans writer appeals to the House of Lords to remember transgender relationships when they scrutinize England and Wales proposed gay marriage law

The House of Lords vote backing same-sex marriage legislation was good news, and brings equality one step closer. One welcome result will be trans people won’t have to dissolve loving marriages in order to gain gender recognition.

However, there are still some issues which remain to be resolved in order for the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales to be great and inclusive legislation.

June 10, 2013
UK parliament asks Queen to allow gay couples to marry in royal chapel

Labour MP Chris Bryant is hoping the Church of England chapel in Parliament could become multi-faith to allow same-sex couples to marry there

The UK parliament has asked Queen Elizabeth II to allow gay couples to marry in a royal chapel.

Members of parliament are hoping the St Stephen’s Chapel, the main place of Christian worship in the Palace of Westminster, could become a multi-faith venue that would allow same-sex couples to get married once it is legal in England and Wales.

Gay Labour MP and former Anglican vicar Chris Bryant has suggested allowing leaders of other faiths to conduct same-sex marriages in the chapel, such as the Quakers.

June 8, 2013
Christian priest slams anti-gay archbishop on Facebook

Reverend Marcus Ranshaw took to Facebook to call the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby a ‘wanker’ for his anti-gay views

A Church of England priest has publicly trashed his superior’s homophobic views.

Reverend Marcus Ranshaw took to Facebook this week calling Justin Welby, the notoriously anti-gay Archbishop of Canterbury, a ‘wanker’ for saying gay marriage would devastate the institution. Welby was speaking during the two-day House of Lords debate where politicians and religious officials argued for or against gay marriage in the UK. 

June 5, 2013
Church of England stops fighting gay marriage

Anglican Church – the state religion of Britain – will now work to ‘improve’ the equal marriage bill as it goes through parliament, not block it

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.

June 5, 2013
Lords follow marriage victory with call for gay sex to be legal globally

Britain’s House of Lords have heard the need for 78 countries to decriminalize homosexuality worldwide, just after voting for gay marriage

The criminalization of homosexuality is ‘abhorrent’ and needs to be scrapped on human rights and HIV-prevention grounds, the House of Lords has heard.

The comment was made by senior Conservative Lord Norman Fowler as Britain’s upper chamber of parliament was debating the UK’s contribution Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria.

June 4, 2013
Gay Asian Lord Waheed Alli makes plea for love in marriage debate

Alli tells UK’s House of Lords ‘it is about love, it is about who we love and how we express that love between one another’ in debate ahead of crunch vote

Openly gay Asian peer, Lord Waheed Alli, has told the House of Lords that ‘different is different and equal is equal’.

He was commenting in the debate on the government’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales which has already passed the elected House of Commons but now has to be approved, amended or rejected by the Lords.

Alli was one of the speakers opening the second day of the debate which yesterday saw some speakers claim the bill would lead to polygamy and lesbian queens reigning over Britain and the Commonwealth.

June 4, 2013
Landslide vote for gay marriage in House of Lords

House of Lords backs gay and lesbian marriage bill for England and Wales and will now scrutinize it in detail

The House of Lords has backed the further passage of the equal marriage bill – meaning it has now passed a crucial hurdle.

The upper chamber of the British parliament spent two days debating the government’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, which has already been passed by the elected House of Commons.

Despite a fierce debate the peers rejected an amendment by Lord Geoffrey Dear which would have stopped the bill in its tracks.

June 4, 2013
Why we can’t wait for the right to marry

Lorraine Donnelly, co-founder and director at gay greeting card company, Pride To Be sends her own greeting to members of the House of Lords debating gay marriage

Britain’s House of Commons has passed the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales with a vote of 366 to 162. Now, as you know, the bill has moved to the House of Lords, whose approval is also needed before enshrining the heavily fought-for legislation into law.

If approved, the law is expected to come into force in 2014, affording same-sex couples the choice of marriage or civil partnership.

It will also allow gay and lesbian couples who have previously entered into a civil partnership, to convert their relationship into a marriage.

June 3, 2013
'Moral minefield' or 'force for good': Lords debate gay marriage

Gay marriage in England and Wales faces crucial debate in House of Lords with Lord Dear trying to stop the bill in its tracks

Gay marriage opponent Geoffrey Dear has called on fellow members of Britain’s House of Lords to block gay marriage, describing it as a ‘legal, theological, moral and sociological minefield’.

At the start of the debate in the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales, Dear described it as ‘by any stretch of the imagination a contentious bill’ only serving ‘a very small minority’.

The bill has already been voted through by the elected House of Commons but still has to be scrutinized by the unelected upper house of the British parliament.

June 3, 2013
Anglican head Justin Welby says 'sorry' to gays for church's past

Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, admits the church has treated LGBT people badly in past but still won’t back gay marriage in House of Lords

The new Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has expressed ‘sorrow’ at his church’s past treatment of LGBT people.

The head of the Anglican Church worldwide made the comments as he took part in a debate in the House of Lords, Britain’s upper chamber of parliament, about the governments Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales.

He hesitatingly accepted the bill did give sufficient protection to avoid his church or other faith groups being forced to conduct gay or lesbian weddings – even if they were sued in the courts.

June 3, 2013
From lesbian queens to stories of love: Lords gay marriage debate

Britain’s House of Lords debate same-sex marriage equality with lesbian and gay peers taking a leading part in the debate

Gay people should be denied marriage because it would lead to four-way weddings and for the same reason blind people can’t see, Britain’s House of Lords has heard.

The upper chamber of the British parliament had been debating the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales today (3 June) ahead of a crucial, although not final, vote tomorrow.

Peers have also heard, from supporters of gay marriage, the bill will deliver equality, improve society and send a message of support to LGBT people at home and abroad.

June 3, 2013
From ‘sodomy’ to ‘marrying pets’, play gay marriage bingo

UK gay lobby group Stonewall launches its bingo game so you can play along as House of Lords debates marriage equality

Finally! Lord Norman Tebbit has used the term ‘lesbian Queen’. Full house!

Yes, Britain’s upper chamber of parliament is to debate the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales – and it’s time to play House of Lords #EqualMarriage Bingo.

Forget two fat ladies or legs 11, this is bingo gone crazy from ‘bestiality’ to ‘polygamy’ to ‘marrying your son’.

It’s been invented by leading British gay and lesbian campaign organization Stonewall to poke fun at the extremists in the Lords who wish to derail LGBT marriage equality.

June 3, 2013
Gay chorus leads carnival for equal marriage outside Lords

Marriage equality supporters make certain the British House of Lords hear their voices

Around 500 supporters of equal marriage attended a rally outside the UK parliament tonight (3 June) to show their support for marriage equality and to let peers debating and voting know how important the issue is to them.

The House of Lords is debating the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales today ahead of a crucial, although not final, vote tomorrow afternoon.

The 500 pro equal marriage supporters far outnumbered a very small handful of anti equal marriage Christians.  

June 3, 2013
Gay marriage: The Lords strike back

From lords who say gay marriage persecutes Christians to those who argue it's good for business, the debate comes to the UK's House of Lords today

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.

June 3, 2013
Sikh lord says gay marriage would lead to children being ‘neglected’

Britain’s House of Lords is debating same-sex marriage equality. Lord Indarjit Singh says by same logic, Muslims should be allowed polygamy

A Sikh member of Britain’s House of Lords has said it would be illogical to allow gay marriage and not polygamy.

Sikh Lord Indarjit Singh of Wimbledon was speaking in the debate in the upper chamber of the British parliament while it debates the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales today (3 June).

He said the bill created the ‘deliberate masking’ of difference.

And he said: ‘Most people have opposite-sex partnerships, giving birth to children and nurturing them.’

June 3, 2013
UK gay marriage debate begins today, bishops urged to withhold votes

As a two-day debate on UK marriage equality goes underway in the House of Lords, senior church officials fear a backlash if too many bishops vote against the bill

The future of gay marriage in England and Wales will be debated in the House of Lords today and tomorrow.

As the Lords argue the merits of the bill over two days that will culminate in a crunch vote at around 5pm on Tuesday (4 June), bishops have been told to abstain from voting to avoid being singled out and blamed should the bill not pass.

June 1, 2013
Christian, Jewish and Buddhist leaders band together against UK gay marriage

UK religious leaders have formed an 'unprecedented' alliance to urge Prime Minister David Cameron to halt the marriage equality bill

53 religious leaders from different faiths including Christianity, Judaism and Buddhism have written to PM David Cameron opposing gay marriage.

British newspaper The Telegraph reports that Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist leaders have joined in submitting an open letter to the British Prime Minister denouncing his plans for same-sex marriage to be debated in the House of Lords next week.

May 31, 2013
Gay and anti-gay Christians face-off on marriage prayer day

Changing Attitude and the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement provide prayers for Christian supporters of equal marriage as anti-gay Christians hold day of prayer against equality

LGBT Christians will go head-to-head with anti-gay Christians as they both spend a day praying to God – for or against marriage equality.

Gay-hating Christians have declared Sunday (2 June) as Britain's National Day of Prayer for Marriage.

But, on being alerted to the day by Gay Star News, Christians who support LGBT equality have responded by issuing their own prayers – hoping for divine help to pass the equal marriage bill for England and Wales.

May 31, 2013
Gay marriage on knife-edge with majority of just 10 ahead of UK Lords debate

A headcount of peers in the same-sex marriage debate for England and Wales indicates it could be a majority of just 10 out of a total chamber of 763

The future of gay marriage in England and Wales is on a knife-edge with campaigners warning it could all come down to the vote of just a few Lords.

Gay Star News can reveal a headcount by experts in parliament indicates there will be a slim majority in favor of same-sex marriage in the House of Lords – but it may be as small as 10 out of a chamber of up to 763.

Meanwhile Out4Marriage, in it’s public list, has 133 peers for gay marriage, 46 against with 585 undecided.

May 30, 2013
Call for gays to fight back on equal marriage at Lords rally

Anti-gay Christians planning counter protest as House of Lords to debate gay marriage in England and Wales on Monday

Gay activists are urging everyone who cares about equal marriage to rally outside the UK’s House of Lords as the peers debate the issue.

Their vigil on Monday (3 June) will be a counter protest to one organized by anti-gay Christians who are hoping to get big numbers out.

The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill for England and Wales has already been passed by elected politicians in the House of Commons but the unelected Lords represent a bigger challenge.