Universal Life Church Thanks David Cameron on Supporting Gay Marriage

British Prime Minister Announces Plans to Allow Gay Weddings in Churches

British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced controversial plans to allow gay weddings to be performed in British churches. Photo credit: Matt Dunham, AP.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to announce plans to allow gay marriage inside British churches within the next week. This development shows that Cameron, who began his first term as Prime Minister in 2010, has made a 180 degree turn on his position on gay marriage he made public earlier this year. At the time, Cameron proposed a ban on all gay weddings at British churches, mosques, and temples.

“I’m a massive supporter of marriage and I don’t want gay people to be excluded from a great institution,” Cameron said during a recent interview.

One of the primary arguments behind allowing gay marriages to be performed in British churches is that religious groups who are willing to host them inside their places of worship, like Jews and Quakers, should be legally allowed to do so. Gay marriage proponents argue that the Church of England’s discomfort with same sex weddings shouldn’t prevent other religions from performing them.

It is speculated that at least part of  Cameron’s about-face is due to warnings from lawyers that the complete ban on gay weddings at churches will give gay rights activists ample fodder for a lawsuit.

Cameron Defies Party to Support Gay Marriage

David Cameron, the leader of Britain’s Conservative Party, has faced strong opposition to his pro gay marriage plans – including from prominent members of his own party.

Within hours of Cameron’s announcement about his gay marriage plans, dozens of Conservative Party politicians – from Secretaries to Members of Parliament (MP) – issued statements condemning them.

“I believe this [gay marriage bill] is a mistake,” Stewart Jackson, a Conservative MP from Peterborough, said in an interview. “It’s a very divisive issue and an unnecessary piece of legislation.”

In an open letter addressed to Cameron, Brian Binley, a Conservative MP from Northampton South, called his plans “quite absent of anything consistent with the core principles and philosophy of the party.”

Many Conservative politicians cited an anti gay marriage petition, which currently has half a million signatures, as proof that Britain is not in favor of such a bill either.

Conservative politicians also expressed concerns that this bill would cause their party to lose already unstable ground with Britain’s Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu communities. These religious minority groups generally oppose same sex marriage and tend to vote for their rivals, Britain’s center-left Labour Party.

Universal Life Church Applauds Cameron’s Plans

As major proponents of gay marriage, the Universal Life Church commends David Cameron for unabashedly working against his own party's principles.

As a major proponent of gay marriage, the Universal Life Church supports David Cameron’s decision to allow gay weddings to occur in British churches. While it is not necessary for marriages to be performed in churches, mosques, temples, and other places of worship in Britain, it is patently unfair to deny same sex couples the right to get married in a church if they want to. Doing so automatically denigrates gays and lesbians to second class citizen status.

We agree with the following statement made by a British rabbi: “This [gay marriage bill] is not only very welcome but is essential for religious integrity. I cannot conceive of a God who creates homosexuals but would then want us to deny them the right to seek marital fulfillment within a religious context.”

Furthermore, we respect Cameron’s willingness to go against his own party wishes – as well as campaign promises – in order to support something he feels strongly about. Cameron is certainly not the most popular British politician at the moment, and this recent development will probably hurt his career more than help it, but the Universal Life Church firmly believes that Cameron’s commitment to his personal convictions and interest in complete equality for gay Britons is highly commendable.

The Universal Life Church is not alone in these sentiments. A handful of Labour MP’s – people who generally oppose Cameron – are admiring his bravery for standing up for LGBT rights and gay marriage. The ULC just hopes that Parliament and their constituents feels the same way when Cameron’s bill is voted on early next year.