Posted on 02/04/2014 8:57:07 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Tonight Scotland became the 11th jurisdiction in the European Union and the 17th in the world to create gay “marriage” in a vote at Holyroodhouse of 105-18. This leaves only Northern Ireland as the last jurisdiction in the United Kingdom to retain the traditional legal definition of marriage between one man and one woman.
Health Secretary Alex Neil said he expected the first “gay marriages” could take place this autumn. “We’re doing a remarkable thing today, we are saying on behalf of Scotland to the world, loud and clear that we believe in recognizing love between same sex couples as we do between opposite sex couples,” he said.
Neil reiterated that clergy celebrants of marriage ceremonies who could not in conscience participate would be protected by the “safeguards,” but the legislation does not mention the rights of non-clerical citizens. The Church of Scotland, a Presbyterian denomination that represents the majority of Scotland’s Christian believers, said in September that it might simply give up officiating at marriages should the legislation pass.
At the time of the vote, 54,000 people had signed a petition asking the government to drop the idea. A spokesman for the marriage campaign group Scotland for Marriage said the petition was submitted to the government with the addresses of signatories removed out of fears of discrimination. Redacting these details was “an absolute necessity to protect the rights and freedoms of ordinary men and women with traditional views on marriage which are under threat,” the Christian Institute reports.
“We really are facing the prospect of people being discriminated against in their own homes, at work and at schools if this Bill progresses in its present form,” the Scotland for Marriage spokesman added.
Scotland for Marriage had asked for amendments to the bill to protect not only clergy from having to participate, but also ordinary citizens who might be caught in a conflict between the law and their conscience, including civil marriage registrars and marriage counselors. The group had also called for a public referendum on the issue.
Campaigners threatened MSPs who supported the bill, saying they would lose their seats in the next election cycle. This prediction has come early for one Tory MSP, who voted for the bill tonight and has already been “de-selected” by his local party riding association in South Suffolk. Tim Yeo, a former Conservative minister and an MP for 30 years, lost a secret vote that polled 600 Tory members.
Sick.
What with kilts and all, what do you expect.
What about Sheep?
it must be the haggis...
63% of the sheep think this will bode well for them.
37% know what comes next, and aren’t celebrating...
aye!
The 37% are convinced, and are saying, “It’s gonna get baaaad.”
“Och, I dinna understand it either, but if they say haggis wants to git married I dinna see why not...what? ‘Faggots’? What sort of a dish is that?”
This seems like a good time to sing “Donald, Where’s Your Trewsers?”
I imagine John Knox is spinning in his grave.
It is neither “gay” nor is it “marriage”. What fools these mortals be.
>> 105-18
Do the people of Scotland support this in the same ratio?
Seems like the queers are wining,
Most Scotsmen are gay anyway.
Gay marriage...... Its the latest craze! Sweeping all the wealthy degenerate nations in the West. I never hear anything about gay marriage from Korea or Japan. Nor China.
Yet another occasion where tyranny reigns. They were too scared to put it to referendum.
I see you like baaaad jokes, so don’t miss post #16.
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