Same sex 'marriage' in Scotland: the struggle goes on

Much though I would like to be concentrating on my own sins in the preparation for Easter and on the needs of the Church as we prepare for the election of the new Pope and needful reflection on the state of the Church in Scotland, needs must.

The second government consultation on same sex 'marriage' legislation in Scotland is currently in place and closes at 5pm on 20 March 2013. It's hard to approach this without being reminded of a dog returning to its vomit (although without that canine glee): the last consultation rejected same sex 'marriage' and was ignored by the Scottish government.

However, both because it is important to go down fighting and because it is important to defend the ability of those opposed to nu-marriage to carry on living out their beliefs with integrity particularly in Catholic schools, it is important to respond to the consultation.

The LGBTQI lobby is already upping the ante by suggesting that any attempt to protect anti-same sex 'marriage' views is homophobic:

Yesterday, Tom French, Policy Co-ordinator for the Equality Network, said: “We are deeply concerned that opponents of same-sex marriage are attempting to reintroduce Section 28-style discrimination back into Scotland’s schools. This would roll back equality and have a damaging effect on young people and the wider education system. “We firmly believe that school should be a welcoming environment for all young people regardless of their sexual orientation or family situation. Schools have a duty of care to their pupils and it would be wrong to allow discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the education system.” (From Scotland on Sunday.)

So please do contribute to the consultation: in particular, note that the consultation specifically allows for views expressed by people outside Scotland. Scotland for Marriage have a shortened response form with suggested answers: although more personalized responses are of course ideal, at the very least, please take the trouble to click on 'send' for this standard response.

The Scotland for Marriage form is here.

The full consultation reply form is here.