Interesting. The first time I have read a cogent politically conservative argument in favour of gay marriage. Too often the politically conservative and the religiously conservative get mixed up in the US (as elsewhere)... yet in the US this produces a bizarre schizophrenic approach to constitutional rights. His argument does not directly transfer to this side of the water as we do not have a constituionally agreed Bill of Rights, and the definition of marriage in the UK is explicitly heterosexual. I have argued for years that the legal union between two people (call it what you like civil partnership/civil marriage) of whatever sexual gender or orientation, should be decoupled from the religious ceremony, as per much of Europe. This would avoid the equality issues that the state wrestles with, not only re sexual orientation, but also which religious bodies can legally \"marry.\" It doesn\'t let us off the hook re the theological issues, but it would mean that we could address them on our own terms.

Name: Virtual methodist
Website: www.virtualmethodist.blogspot.com
Added: Thursday 21st January 2010 @ 12:40 pm