Cross-party parliamentary alliance launches campaign against same-sex marriage

An interesting letter opposing British Government plans to legalize same-sex marriage, signed by Conservative, Labour, Democratic Unionist, and independent MPs and Peers, is published this morning in The Daily Telegraph.

• It begins by emphasising the nature of marriage in the complementarity of a man and a woman in a child-centred loving and committed union
• It points out the democratic deficit in the government's proposals and, indeed, that none of the three main parties included the legalization of same-sex marriage in their manifesto
• And the letter points out that half a million British residents have been completely ignored in the government consultation whilst anonymous submissions "from anyone anywhere in the world" have been taken on board

The letter reads:

SIR – As parliamentarians from different political parties and none, we are united in supporting the institution of marriage defined in law as a union between a man and a woman. We recognise the value of a loving and committed relationship and we respect civil partnership, but affirm the distinctive value of marriage reflecting the complementarity of a man and woman often evidenced in parenthood.

At the last election, none of the three main parties stood on a platform to redefine marriage. It was not contained in any of their manifestos, nor did it feature in the Coalition’s Programme for Government. These facts alone should have led to extreme caution on the part of those calling for this change to be made.

Instead the Government is ignoring the overwhelming public response against the plans. The consultation has ignored the views of 500,000 British residents in favour of anonymous submissions from anyone anywhere in the world. We believe that the Government does not have a mandate to redefine marriage.

We recognise these are issues of conscience which will be given free votes in Parliament. We will be seeking legal guarantees of the same freedom of conscience for our constituents and religious organisations to teach, preach and express a traditional view of marriage.

We are sceptical that the proposed protections will prevent the erosion of liberties of religion and conscience. The proposed redefinition of marriage is unnecessary, given the legal rights established through civil partnerships. We understand some parliamentarians support freedom for same sex couples to marry, but we support a freedom from the state being able to redefine the meaning of marriage.

David Burrowes MP (Conservative)
Joe Benton MP (Labour)
David Davis MP (Conservative)
Mary Glindon MP (Labour)
Lord Hylton (Crossbench)
Nigel Dodds MP (Democratic Unionist Party)
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Labour)
Fiona Bruce MP (Conservative)
Jim Dobbin MP (Labour)
Lord Carey of Clifton (Crossbench)
Rehman Chishti MP (Conservative)
Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach (Conservative)
Sir Gerald Howarth MP (Conservative)
Tim Loughton MP (Conservative)
Peter Bone MP (Conservative)
Jeffrey Donaldson (Democratic Unionist Party)
Andrew Selous MP (Conservative)
John Glen MP (Conservative)
Sir Jim Paice MP (Conservative)
Stewart Jackson MP (Conservative)
Lord Edmiston (Conservative)
Jim Shannon MP (Democratic Unionist Party)
Lord Palmer (Crossbench)
Andrew Bingham MP (Conservative)
Lord Shrewsbury and Waterford (Conservative)
Julian Brazier MP (Conservative)
David Simpson MP (Democratic Unionist Party)
Pauline Latham MP (Conservative)
Nick de Bois MP (Conservative)
Richard Drax MP (Conservative)
Lord Tombs (Crossbench)
Jonathan Evans MP (Conservative)
Sir Roger Gale MP (Conservative)
Ian Paisley (Democratic Unionist Party)
Gordon Henderson MP (Conservative)
Philip Hollobone MP (Conservative)
Lord Stoddart of Swindon (Independent Labour)
Marcus Jones MP (Conservative)
Lord Swinfen (Conservative)
Baroness Fookes (Conservative)
Jeremy LeFroy MP (Conservative)
Lord Vinson (Conservative)
Karl McCartney MP (Conservative)
Dr William McCrea MP (Democratic Unionist Party)
Anne McIntosh MP (Conservative)
Stephen Metcalfe MP (Conservative)
Anne-Marie Morris MP (Conservative)
David Nuttall MP (Conservative)
Matthew Offord MP (Conservative)
David Davies MP (Conservative)
Mark Pawsey MP (Conservative)
David Ruffley MP (Conservative)
Lord Marlesford (Conservative)
Henry Smith MP (Conservative)
Baroness O'Cathain (Conservative)
Bob Stewart MP (Conservative)
Ben Wallace MP (Conservative)
Craig Whittaker MP (Conservative)

Marriage as an institution protects children, both born and unborn. Statistics show that unborn children are much safer within marriage than outside marriage. For more information on the full grounds of SPUC's opposition to same-sex marriage, see SPUC's position paper and background paper.  Please do everything you can to support SPUC's Britain-wide lobby of Members of Parliament on marriage. Like Cardinal O'Brien, let's not be intimidated by charges of 'homophobia' as we seek to uphold the institution of marriage, which is the faithful lifelong union between one man and one woman, which is the foundation of the family and the fundamental group-unit of society.

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