British Conservatives Lead Charge to Legalize Gay Marriage

[dialectical fetishist]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

[You kip if you want to...]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

Not exactly the same as Cameron. Cameron's support of same-sex marriage stinks of oppurtunism when you see that he voted for the down-right homophobic section 28.

[dialectical fetishist]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

Not exactly the same as Cameron. Cameron's support of same-sex marriage stinks of oppurtunism when you see that he voted for the down-right homophobic section 28.

And voted against gay adoption.

Twice.

[President Marokai]

Why don't they just have an un-whipped conscience vote on gay marriage the way they had on capital punishment in Britain?  The Tories not paranoid about gays can support their unions, and those who are paranoid can vote no.  Everybody is happy. For once we have a "simple" solution to something. Isn't that grand?

I'm sort of baffled why it's so difficult to bring up for exactly this reason. There's really no reason at all to keep kicking the can on this issue unless it's blatant opportunism that there's no heart behind, which I suppose is a distinct possibility. Cameron (supposedly) has grand visions of turning the Conservative party into a more moderate and socially conscious party, but on most issues that doesn't seem to be shaping up in reality. There's a real gap between rhetoric and what the Conservatives have been doing, or able to do.

[Joe Republic]

The proposal, put forward this month despite the lack of a strong clamor for marriage within Britain’s gay community,

So does Britain's LGBT community really want this or not?  My understanding was that civil unions were acceptable enough, given the lack of ingrained religious culture in modern Britain (especially among the LGBT).

[crypto-fascist superhero]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

Not exactly the same as Cameron. Cameron's support of same-sex marriage stinks of oppurtunism when you see that he voted for the down-right homophobic section 28.

And voted against gay adoption.

Twice.

All of those were 3-line whips, which mean potential expulsion from the party if disobeyed (party discipline is/can be much more strictly enforced in the UK).

[You kip if you want to...]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

Not exactly the same as Cameron. Cameron's support of same-sex marriage stinks of oppurtunism when you see that he voted for the down-right homophobic section 28.

And voted against gay adoption.

Twice.

All of those were 3-line whips, which mean potential expulsion from the party if disobeyed (party discipline is/can be much more strictly enforced in the UK).

Thanks. I didn't know that.

[President Marokai]

It's a good thing we have Wormyguy here to explain the intricacies of party discipline in a Westminster system of government to our UK members.

[dialectical fetishist]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

Not exactly the same as Cameron. Cameron's support of same-sex marriage stinks of oppurtunism when you see that he voted for the down-right homophobic section 28.

And voted against gay adoption.

Twice.

All of those were 3-line whips, which mean potential expulsion from the party if disobeyed (party discipline is/can be much more strictly enforced in the UK).

I have studied British politics for a few years now wormy...

[Sibboleth]

Defying a three-line whip tends not to result in expulsion, fwiw...

[afleitch]

Defying a three-line whip tends not to result in expulsion, fwiw...

It can even be endearing if you're playing to the backbenches.

[dialectical fetishist]

Defying a three-line whip tends not to result in expulsion, fwiw...

It can even be endearing if you're playing to the backbenches.

IIRC it tends to get you a bollocking from the party whips, but unless you're a repeat offender expulsion isn't the case.

[You kip if you want to...]

Defying a three-line whip tends not to result in expulsion, fwiw...

It can even be endearing if you're playing to the backbenches.

IIRC it tends to get you a bollocking from the party whips, but unless you're a repeat offender expulsion isn't the case.

Especially on an issue like this.

[crypto-fascist superhero]

Blair/Brown Labour also had 13 years with large majorities and no angry backbenchers to (fully) legalize gay marriage, y'know...

They legalized civil unions, and would probably have legalized gay marriage if they'd won in 2010.

Therefore making them... the same as Cameron!  (Complete with the "probably" - certainly a low level of probability given the previous 13 years...).  Also still makes them more socially-conservative than John Lynch (y'know, that NH governor who's vetoing the medical marijuana bill; he signed gay marriage back in '09).

Not exactly the same as Cameron. Cameron's support of same-sex marriage stinks of oppurtunism when you see that he voted for the down-right homophobic section 28.

And voted against gay adoption.

Twice.

All of those were 3-line whips, which mean potential expulsion from the party if disobeyed (party discipline is/can be much more strictly enforced in the UK).

I have studied British politics for a few years now wormy...

Sorry, thought you were 20RP12 (he had a C-UK avatar IIRC).