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| Say hello to our new flag, the Union Rainbow |
Well, if you have been paying attention to the various social networking sites, you’ll know for a fact that marriage equality has been achieved in the United Kingdom, and that everyone will be able to marry whomever they wish.
Unfortunately, that fact is false.
The bill that was voted on by Members of Parliament on the fifth was, as you may have gathered, about legalising same-sex marriage. It did, as the political networks are saying, have a majority in favour of it. But it is not the law in England and Wales yet - and this particular bill will never be the law in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the other two countries in the UK, who will hopefully put their own marriage equality legislation forward in the next few years.
For those of you who need a crash course in British politics, here's a handy graphic (which is actually interactive, if you click on the link in the caption:
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| This site has a helpful guide to each step of the process - the bill just passed the second reading in the House of Commons |
Parliament is made up of two houses. These are the House of Commons and the House of Lords and, like the Senate and Congress in the USA, both must pass a bill before it can become law. The Commons just voted for marriage equality, and so the issue, then, is the next step – passing it in the Lords. The Lords have in the past voted against legislation that the Commons voted for - a good example would be Section 28’s repeal, which I will go through now.
In 2000, there were two attempts to repeal Section 28 – the Conservative bill that outlawed any publications that “promoted the homosexual lifestyle” in schools or public libraries. These were delayed by opposition in the Lords, despite a majority supporting its removal from law in the Commons. However, as the House of Lords was not elected, there is a Parliament Act in place to ensure that ultimately only elected officials can fully veto a bill. In fact, the Parliament Act of 1949 reduced the time that the Lords could delay a bill by a year (or two sessions) – after which the Commons can pass it without needing their consent, as long as a majority of MPs are for it.
That meant that when Section 28 came up for removal again, in 2003, when the time came, the House of Commons were able to repeal it successfully, regardless of the opinions of the Lords.
So, what’s the issue with the same-sex marriage bill? To put it frankly, there is no issue. The bill passed the second reading with flying colours and four hundred MPs in favour – more than double the opposition. Now, the bill’s amendments will be debated and included (as far as I have seen, mixed-sex civil partnerships and other additions have already been suggested), and then it will go to the third reading, where it will be debated once again for a shorter time and then voted on a final time for the Commons. Unless something drastic happens, with such a huge majority support will still be for the bill at the third reading.
Then it will be passed to the House of Lords, who will go through the same process again (that is: first introduction, then debate, then vote, then amendments, then vote again) and then finally be passed to the head of state for final Royal Assent.
With the Parliament Act 1949 in place, even if the House of Lords are violently against it, they can only vote against it twice. Even if, for whatever reason, the bill is rejected twice and the next election (most likely to be in 2015) comes before the coalition can try to bring it in, the next party voted in is almost certain to try and pass the bill, and then the Lords won’t be able to stop it.
That’s a very unlikely scenario, considering the statistics. 400 Members of Parliament voted for the bill, with 175 voting against. We also saw something almost as rare as a blue moon – the top level of the Conservative Party actually voting for a pro-gay piece of legislation. And let’s not forget the most important fact, something that almost never happens, the one thing that the House of Lords will have difficulty just brushing off: The leaders of the three main political parties all said “I do” to marriage equality.
So you see, dear reader, England and Wales don’t have equal marriage, but the question we are asking ourselves is “when”, rather than “if”, we will get it.
In 2000, there were two attempts to repeal Section 28 – the Conservative bill that outlawed any publications that “promoted the homosexual lifestyle” in schools or public libraries. These were delayed by opposition in the Lords, despite a majority supporting its removal from law in the Commons. However, as the House of Lords was not elected, there is a Parliament Act in place to ensure that ultimately only elected officials can fully veto a bill. In fact, the Parliament Act of 1949 reduced the time that the Lords could delay a bill by a year (or two sessions) – after which the Commons can pass it without needing their consent, as long as a majority of MPs are for it.
That meant that when Section 28 came up for removal again, in 2003, when the time came, the House of Commons were able to repeal it successfully, regardless of the opinions of the Lords.
So, what’s the issue with the same-sex marriage bill? To put it frankly, there is no issue. The bill passed the second reading with flying colours and four hundred MPs in favour – more than double the opposition. Now, the bill’s amendments will be debated and included (as far as I have seen, mixed-sex civil partnerships and other additions have already been suggested), and then it will go to the third reading, where it will be debated once again for a shorter time and then voted on a final time for the Commons. Unless something drastic happens, with such a huge majority support will still be for the bill at the third reading.
Then it will be passed to the House of Lords, who will go through the same process again (that is: first introduction, then debate, then vote, then amendments, then vote again) and then finally be passed to the head of state for final Royal Assent.
With the Parliament Act 1949 in place, even if the House of Lords are violently against it, they can only vote against it twice. Even if, for whatever reason, the bill is rejected twice and the next election (most likely to be in 2015) comes before the coalition can try to bring it in, the next party voted in is almost certain to try and pass the bill, and then the Lords won’t be able to stop it.
That’s a very unlikely scenario, considering the statistics. 400 Members of Parliament voted for the bill, with 175 voting against. We also saw something almost as rare as a blue moon – the top level of the Conservative Party actually voting for a pro-gay piece of legislation. And let’s not forget the most important fact, something that almost never happens, the one thing that the House of Lords will have difficulty just brushing off: The leaders of the three main political parties all said “I do” to marriage equality.
So you see, dear reader, England and Wales don’t have equal marriage, but the question we are asking ourselves is “when”, rather than “if”, we will get it.
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