Same-sex Marriage
In January 2013 the Government published its Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill.
The Church of England issued a briefing for MPs
prior to the Report Stage and Third Reading debate of the Bill in
May 2013, which can be read here.
The Church of England issued a briefing for MPs
prior to the Second Reading debate of the Bill in February 2013,
which can be read here.
The Bill followed a Government
consultation earlier in 2012. The Church of England made a
formal
response to that consultation in June 2012 and accompanied it
with a
press release. In December 2012 the Government published a
summary of responses to the consultation, alongside its own response.
The Church of England then issued a further note, following on from
the Secretary of State's announcement of the Government's plan to
legislate, which can be found
here.
Background on the position of
the Church
The Church of England is committed to the traditional understanding
of the institution of marriage as being between one man and one
woman.
The Church of England supports the way civil partnerships offer
same-sex couples equal rights and responsibilities to married
heterosexual couples. Opening marriage to same-sex couples
would confer few if any new legal rights on the part of those
already in a civil partnership, yet would require multiple changes
to law, with the definition of marriage having to change for
everyone.
The issue of whether marriage should be redefined to include those
of the same-sex is a more complicated picture than has been
painted. Arguments that suggest 'religious marriage' is
separate and different from 'civil marriage', and will not be
affected by the proposed redefinition, misunderstand the legal
nature of marriage in this country. They mistake the form of the
ceremony for the institution itself.
Currently, the legal institution of marriage into which people
enter is the same whether they marry using a civil or a religious
form of ceremony. And arguments that seek to treat 'religious
marriage' as being a different institution fail to recognise the
enduring place of the established church in providing marriages
that have full state recognition. The Church of England will
continue to argue against changing the definition of marriage,
which has supported society for so long.
"Now laws change as societies become more conscious of what they
are and claim to be; as I have said, it may take time for a society
to realize that its practice is inconsistent - with respect to
women and to ethnic, religious or sexual minorities. Law may
indeed turn out to be ahead of majority opinion in recognizing
this, but it has a clear argument to advance - that the failure to
guarantee protection and access is simply incompatible with the
very idea of a lawful society. But this falls short of a
legal charter to promote change in institutions, even in
language. Law must prohibit publicly abusive and demeaning
language, it must secure institutions that do not systematically
disadvantage any category of the community. But these tasks
remain 'negative' in force. If it is said, for example, that
a failure to legalise assisted suicide - or indeed same-sex
marriage - perpetuates stigma or marginalisation for some people,
the reply must be, I believe, that issues like stigma and
marginalisation have to be addressed at the level of culture rather
than law, the gradual evolving of fresh attitudes in a spirit of
what has been called 'strategic patience' by some legal thinkers."
Most Rev and Rt Hon Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury,
lecture to the WCC in Geneva, 28th February, 2012:
http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2370/human-rights-and-religious-faith
"We must not torture the English language. Marriage is a
relationship between a man and a woman and that's marriage. We
supported Civil Partnerships [the bishops in the House of Lords],
because we believe that friendships are good for everybody. But
then to turn Civil Partnerships into marriage, that's not the role
of government to create institutions that are not of its gifting. I
don't think it is the role of the state to define what marriage is.
It is set in tradition and history and you can't just [change it]
overnight, no matter how powerful you are. We've seen dictators do
it, by the way, in different contexts and I don't want to redefine
what I call very clear social structures that have been in
existence for a long time and then overnight the state believes it
could go in a particular way." Archbishop of York, Most Rev John
Sentamu, interview with the Daily Telegraph, January 2012:
http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/2338/archbishops-interview-with-the-daily-telegraph
