Two Top Tories Come Out Against Gay Marriage

Two senior Conservative ministers have come out against the Coalition’s plans for marriage equality.

Phillip Hammond, the Defence Secretary, and Tim Loughton, the Families Minister, have both come out against gay marriage and the government’s plans to legalise same-sex marriage. The fact that two senior Conservatives have come out against same-sex marriage will put further pressure on David Cameron to abandon, or at the very least slow down, the plans which have proved to be very unpopular with the right-wing of the Tory party.

In an interview with The Sunday Times the Defence Secretary became the most senior Tory to speak out against the plans. Phillip Hammond told the Sunday broadsheet “We’ve got to be clear that we focus not just on the things that are important, but on the things that are do-able, the things that are deliverable, and the things that chime with ordinary people’s sense of what the priorities are”. Hammond added that gay marriage was “too controversial” and would “use up a lot of political capital”.

During an appearance on The Andrew Marr Show, on BBC One on Sunday, the Defence Secretary further stated marriage equality was “not the number one priority” and the Government has got to show over the next couple of years that it is focused on things that matter to people in this country”.

Tim Loughton, the minister for children and families, came out against gay marriage in a letter to a consituent who asked if he were a supporter of David Cameron’s plans. Loughton wrote that he believed that “marriage as a religious institution cannot be anything other than between a man and a woman, and particularly when all the rights and responsibilities of marriage are available to non-heterosexual couples through civil partnerships”

Loughton and Hammond’s opposition to gay marriage comes in the same week that American President Barack Obama came out in support of same-sex marriage during an interview with ABC News. The move was seen as historically important as it was the first time a serving President had publicly stated his support for marriage equality. Obama’s pledge of support for gay marriage came after voters in North Carolina voted to ban gay marriage and civil unions a move widely criticised not least by the state’s governor.

Closer to home this week saw the launch of the Out4Marriage campaign by the Coalition for Equal Marriage and Pink News, read more here >>