Britain will allow gay marriages in
churches and other religious buildings, although Prime Minister David
Cameron insisted no faith group would be forced to hold them.
Culture
Secretary Maria Miller will unveil ministers’ responses to a
consultation earlier this year, which will propose that religious
organisations should be able to ‘opt-in’ to hold same-sex weddings,
according to a government source.
Amid strong opposition from the
Church of England and Roman Catholics, however, as well as many members
of Cameron’s Conservative party, Miller will stress that no religious
groups will be forced to conduct gay weddings.
Speaking to
reporters on a visit to a car factory, Cameron said: “I’m a massive
supporter of marriage and I don’t want gay people to be excluded from a
great institution.
“But
let me be absolutely 100 percent clear, if there is any church or any
synagogue or any mosque that doesn’t want to have a gay marriage it will
not, absolutely must not, be forced to hold it.
“That is absolutely clear in the legislation.
“Also let me make clear, this is a free vote for members of Parliament but personally I will be supporting it.”
Gay
couples have had the right to hold a civil partnership since 2004 but
campaigners have pushed for full equality with heterosexual couples.
In
its submission to the public consultation in June, the Church of
England said legalising gay marriage could force it out of its
traditional role of conducting weddings on behalf of the state.
