Same-sex marriage campaigners demand Scottish Government back proposal

Campaigners seeking legalised same-sex marriage have demanded the Scottish Government give their backing to the proposal without further delay at a rally in Edinburgh.

Supporters staged a wedding outside Holyrood on Monday before handing in a petition to MSPs and letter to the First Minister.

Both sides have aired their views in recent days as the debate over the future of the way society defines marriage rages on.

Head of the Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien said bishops will raise money for a so-called Support Marriage Sunday earmarked for August 26.

He told The Sunday Times: "We will use this opportunity to remind Catholics of the importance of marriage as a union of a man and a woman and to urge them to be generous in contributing to a special collection which will be used to support initiatives in defence of marriage."

Tom French, policy co-ordinator of the Equality Network, believes most Scots support same-sex marriage.

He said: "For the Catholic Church to spend another £100,000 fighting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality in its self-declared war on gay marriage seems to be an aggressive, undemocratic and un-Christian thing to do.

"At a time of financial crisis, when poverty and depravation are on the rise, surely there are better things that this money could be spent on."

The Scottish Government is set to publish the results of a recent public consultation on the issue later in July.

A spokesman said: "The consultation on same sex marriage and registration of civil partnerships has closed, and we are now analysing the responses and considering what next steps to take.

"As was made clear when the consultation was launched, while we have expressed our initial view, we have given an assurance that all opinions will be listened to, no final views have been reached, and therefore no decisions have been taken."

Related articles

People who read this story also read