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UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 29, 2014 at 12:51 pm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26793127
Quote:The first same-sex weddings have taken place after gay marriage became legal in England and Wales at midnight.
Politicians from the main parties have hailed the change in the law.
David Cameron said the move sent a message that people were now equal "whether gay or straight", but some religious groups remain opposed.
For once I am proud to be British.
"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful" - Edward Gibbon (Offen misattributed to Lucius Annaeus Seneca or Seneca the Younger) (Thanks to apophenia for the correction)
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Know more about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you' - Neil deGrasse Tyson
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RE: UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 29, 2014 at 1:16 pm
It's interesting how the British conservatives seem to get it. Same-sex marriage is (a) an issue about equality under the law and (b) an opportunity to advance a long-cherished conservative principle -- social stability in the private realm. Marriage is an inherently conservative institution. A defense of marriage equality, from a truly conservative position, is a no-brainer.
But here in the U.S., so-called conservatives (and one may question how truly conservative the American right is) continue their pointless, doomed collective tantrum as they're dragged, kicking and screaming, into the 21st Century. A truly conservative principle and cause is derided and resisted as somehow left-wing and radical. Idiots!
Congratulations to Britain and the many couples who are now free to marry! This is wonderful news.
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RE: UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 29, 2014 at 1:51 pm
Great stuff. Good 'ol 'Murrica will be there in a decade.
"There remain four irreducible objections to religious faith: that it wholly misrepresents the origins of man and the cosmos, that because of this original error it manages to combine the maximum servility with the maximum of solipsism, that it is both the result and the cause of dangerous sexual repression, and that it is ultimately grounded on wish-thinking." ~Christopher Hitchens, god is not Great
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RE: UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 29, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Good for them!
Not that I really believe in marriage, but... Good for them, anyway!
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RE: UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 29, 2014 at 3:01 pm
Actually, it's only England and Wales so far. Scotland will follow suit soonish, but Northern Ireland have no plans for equal marriage rights. *sigh*
I can't even claim to be "Proud to be English" today, because a) the Church Of England is banned from performing same-sex weddings (despite many many individual Churches wishing to conduct the ceremonies) and B) the ignorant, disgusting, homophobic comments I've been reading in the comments sections of various news sites today have left me more than a little bit ashamed to live in a country where such views appear to be so common.
On the plus side, I'm so happy about this change. It's an important part of history, like women getting the right to vote. And I was here to witness it. The next generation of children will grow up wondering why it was even an issue in the first place, and that is just wonderful.
I almost cried watching some of the weddings the showed on the news. Couples have been waiting years for this, and seeing them (and their friends and family) so happy at last just made me all emotional.
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RE: UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 30, 2014 at 4:22 am
I heard a report where two gay men wanted to marry (before the change in the law) they were told that the rules said "a man and a woman, not two men" One of the men asked the registrar to go and check the rules, when he eventually came back he looked shocked, the actual rules state "two people" not a man and a woman!
They still were not able to marry though
The meek shall inherit the Earth, the rest of us will fly to the stars.
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RE: UK - Same-sex marriage now legal as first couples wed
March 30, 2014 at 8:42 am
Interestingly enough same sex marriage was only made illegal in 1971.
Quote:"Gay marriage has only been illegal since 1971. It's only 40 years old, this criminalisation, and we've been fighting it since the 90s.
http://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2...day-sketch
You can fix ignorance, you can't fix stupid.
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