Monday, July 29, 2013

Exporting same-sex marriage

Prime Minister David Cameron told a reception for homosexuals in Downing Street of his pride in legalising homosexual marriage and his intention of exporting it around the world.

Britain, he said, was now "the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe," but there was still a lot more work to be done.

"We’ve set something of an example of how to pass good legislation in good time," he said. "Many countries are going to want to copy this." He wanted to export same-sex marriage around the world so other countries could follow suit.

Meanwhile, Alan Craig tells of recent political adventures in his latest blog post.

His organisation GayMarriageNoThanks.com is concerned that children's welfare, at the heart of marriage for many people, has largely been ignored in the same-sex marriage debate. His organisation devised some posters with a picture of a homosexual couple, a separate picture of a young girl and the inscription "What about Sophie, Mr Cameron? Evidence shows children do best with married birth parents."

Two major billboard companies refused their business, evidently because of the posters' content, but a company named AdTrailers agreed to drive the posters around Central London on their truck for two days. On the first day, some same-sex marriage supporters shouted obscenities and ripped part of a poster from the truck.

On the morning of the second day came a phone call from AdTrailers saying they were cancelling the contract with immediate effect. They had received horrific threats to the driver, the staff and the company and for safety's sake couldn't let the truck go out again. "I've known nothing like it in 10 years," said the company representative.

 "More thoughtful observers," says Alan, "may pause to reflect on the implications for our society. The silencing of legitimate public debate through violent threats and fear are the hallmarks of autocracies and tyrannies.

"The UK is not yet Putin’s Russia or Taleban-controlled Pakistan. But inch by inch our free speech is being closed down, our liberties are being curtailed and our democratic space is shrinking. So maybe, just maybe, we are on the way."

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