Cameron - "I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative."

[afleitch]

"I once stood before a Conservative conference and said it shouldn’t matter whether commitment was between a man and a woman, a woman and a woman, or a man and another man. You applauded me for that. Five years on, we’re consulting on legalising gay marriage. And to anyone who has reservations, I say: Yes, it’s about equality, but it’s also about something else: commitment. Conservatives believe in the ties that bind us; that society is stronger when we make vows to each other and support each other. So I don’t support gay marriage despite being a Conservative. I support gay marriage because I’m a Conservative."

Thank you. Just thank you.

[labred82]

LOL, if a US Republican politician said this at their national convention, they would be lynched.

[The Mikado]

Misread the title as "Calderon" and got confused.  Cameron makes more sense.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Does this mean he's finally gonna propose to Nicky?

Anyway good to hear, would be nice if it were a Liberal-Conservative government in Britain that finally delivers same-sex marriage just as it was in Sweden.

[Franzl]

Couldn't have said it better myself. Thumbs up to your PM and government.

[greenforest32]

Last I heard this wasn't going to become law in the UK until 2015 or so. Why does it take so long?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Quite a striking example of the extent to which they've shifted on this issue; it isn't that long ago that closeted MPs were strong-armed into the division lobbies to vote for homophobic legislation. There's a natural tendency to sneer and to suggest that every bit of it is utterly cynical, but, in fairness, I don't think so.

<partisan hack>Of course the rest of the speech was firmly grounded in 'Always twirling, twirling, twirling towards Freedom' territory.</partisan hack>

[afleitch]

<partisan hack>Of course the rest of the speech was firmly grounded in 'Always twirling, twirling, twirling towards Freedom' territory.</partisan hack>

He left Ed to 'dream of being a baseball'

[Antonio the Sixth]

I must say I very positively surprised. I don't know british politics enough to be sure, but it seems to me than Cameron has taken a pretty courageous stance, something I didn't imagine him to be able to. So, props. Hope they'll go on and that it won't remain only words.

[Insula Dei]

@Antonio, I don't think it's that brave a stance. I believe gay marriage isn't very controversial anymore with the British population, and certainly not if it were to come from a party of the right.Obviously, if some of our British posters were to have the intention to correct me on that, they certainly should.

Anyway, it clearly is the rigth noise to make. Congratulations to Cameron.

I now will continue to loathe the guy.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I believe gay marriage isn't very controversial anymore with the British population, and certainly not if it were to come from a party of the right.Obviously, if some of our British posters were to have the intention to correct me on that, they certainly should.

Civil partnerships effectively neutralised the issue before it could become a big deal (and the passage of civil partnerships wasn't especially rough either). The main recent political battles regarding homosexuality were a little earlier and were over the age of consent and the ghastly hangover of Section 28, and once those were won, the process of normalisation (for want of a better word) increased quite rapidly.

[Leftbehind]

Yeah, it's not really that brave a stance, although it's enough that he had to couch it in family-values-conservatism rather than just sexual equality.

It's fairly consistent with where the modern Tory party's been heading for the past decade - drop the social conservatism in favour of all-out economic liberalism. Liberate the gays whilst liberating the public from public services etc.

I still think it's a cause to celebrated, though - and another reason to wonder why our supposedly centre-left wasn't brave enough to actually represent centre-left policies? Although to be fair, they did engender a fair bit of progress in this area, whilst the same Tories today promoting this were clinging to their section 28 sh**te).

[You kip if you want to...]

Good move by Dave, has to be said. Still, it's a shame that there'll still be a massive contingent of Tory MPs who'll be voting no.

[Peter]

Good move by Dave, has to be said. Still, it's a shame that there'll still be a massive contingent of Tory MPs who'll be voting no.

I think thats the key point here - it may well be that a good majority of the British population will support gay marriage (or more to the point, are largely indifferent to gay rights being an issue!) - but there are plenty of Tory MPs and activists who will not be so supportive (and certainly not in the same  proportion as the wider population).

Ultimately, its not a brave move because the papers won't attack him over it - its only brave in politics if it'll hurt you in the papers.