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Quakers welcome debate on same sex marriages

25 January 2010

Quakers in Britain welcome the warm support across the House of Lords for a celebration of same sex marriages in a religious ceremony, during the debate today on the amendment to the Equality Bill.

Lord Waheed Alli (Labour), Rabbi Julia Neuberger (Liberal Democrat), and Baroness Campbell of Surbiton Crossbench) introduced amendment 119 A to the Equality Bill. This would end the current prohibition on the use of religious premises for and religious language in celebration of Civil Partnerships.  Many peers including Baroness Butler-Sloss, Bishop Richard Harries and Baroness Howe spoke in a packed House of Lords in a nearly an hour of debate this afternoon.  

“Quakers welcome the warm support for Lord Alli`s amendment from across the House, and the sympathy towards its intention, offered even by those who couldn`t accept the amendment in its present form. We are encouraged by the government’s willingness to listen, consult and consider,” said Gillian Ashmore, Quaker Recording Clerk. “We are looking forward to entering this dialogue with both government and other faith bodies, with a view to finding a solution together.”

At their Yearly Meeting in York in 2009, Quakers sought a change in the law so that same sex marriages can be prepared, celebrated, witnessed, reported to the state, and recognised as legally valid, without further process, in the same way as opposite sex marriages are celebrated in Quaker meetings.  Quakers consider that they should be able to follow the insights of their membership in celebrating life-long committed relationships between a man and a man, or a woman and a woman, in exactly the same way as they currently recognise the marriage of opposite sex couples. 


Ends

Notes to editor:

  • Approximately 25,000 people attend Quaker Meetings for Worship in Great Britain, and there are more than 475 Meetings.
  • Quakers are known formally as the Religious Society of Friends.

Media Information
Anne van Staveren
0207 663 1048
07958 009703
annev@quaker.org.uk
www.quaker.org.uk