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.
