Saturday 26 January 2013

FYI: Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill Is Not #EqualMarriage

So the Coalition has not listened (mainly because nobody has been listening to the concerns of LGBT people whilst the Church in Wales and the Church of England were bleating on about irrelevant constitutional concerns) and the bill that has now been published legalising same-sex marriage is more "same-same but different" than about equal marriage.

I hate being negative (as always) but sometimes one does have to be true to ones self and not cheer progress just because it is heading in the right direction. And, yes, this plays right into the hands of those anti-LGBT folks who love to claim "See, they are never happy" whenever a LGBT person complains about someone compromising their liberty. But...

We do not have equal civil partnerships meaning same-sex couples get a fantastic array of choices whilst different-sex couples get marriage or no marriage. How on Earth this can be described as fair I don't know, and it really needs to be sorted out now as it'll only rear its ugly head further down the line anyway.

There is no provision for reinstating those marriages that had to be dissolved due to a trans person getting a GRC. As always trans people are expected to just take it on the chin. "Whoops" indeed (thanks Labour). Cllr Sarah Brown gives you the details here.

Equal pension rights? Nope. This bill does not fix this sort of thing.

And then we come to the topic nobody wants to discuss: consummation and adultery. Joe O'Donnell says all I'd want to say on the matter here.

And with a grumpty, grumpty, grump I will sigh discontentedly and hope some sane person in Labour (no one then...) stops bowing before the Archbishop of Canterbury long enough to realise there are some amendments that need to be introduced. Otherwise I'm going to be moaning about this for another 10 years...

What do you mean I said I wouldn't blog on #equalmarriage again? I don't remember that at all....

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