Inclusive faith groups need you ...

It never ceases to amaze me how much money is apparently around to both sponsor, and be made from, bigotry and bigoted causes.

The language used by organisations that support bigoted views often claims to support what is holy, sacred, or core to our values as a society.  They use scare tactics and a series of untruths to attempt to label those they're seeking to oppress and to gain support and finances from people who don't wish to see their lifestyle or value system threatened.  In my opinion this is less of a faith issue, but more of a power issue, and occasionally a financial issue.

By contrast, the groups that seek to promote full inclusion often work with very limited budgets and payrolls, but work very hard.

This is especially true in the case of so-called faith groups fighting against the LGBT community.  There are plenty of groups working very hard to fight the full inclusion of LGBT people, to campaign against marriage equality & marriage equality in faith communities, and most recently - often campaigning for bills which allow discrimination on the religious grounds.

I don't believe the answer to fighting bigotry in faith groups is to silence the voice of faith. If we allow ourselves to go down that road, we effectively silence all faith voices, including those fighting hard to bring full equality and inclusion.  People of faith who believe in equality for all often speak out in favour of full inclusion at the risk of their careers, and sometimes even their homes and families.  If we're to bring change in faith communities and have faith communities that affirm and include all and advocate for equality, we're going to need to support them and help them find their voice. If we give them back their voice, it removes some of the power of the oppressive groups that seek to silence everyone that doesn't submit to their control.

I wish to draw attention to some of the groups working for the full inclusion of the LGBT community, in faith groups, in society, in law and in our culture.  They need your support, your time, your gifts and talents, your prayers and your donations.

Faith Groups

• LGCM - the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement.
  Find out more about them here
  Donate to their ministry here
• Changing Attitude - Changing Attitude works for the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the life of the Anglican Communion.
  Find out more about them here
  Donate to their ministry here
• Two:23 - an evangelical Christian with a LGBT inclusive ministry
  Find out more about Two:23 here
• Diverse Church - Diverse Church is a supportive community of 250+ young 18-30yo LGBT+ Christians, predominantly in UK evangelical churches. They aim to be a pastoral/mission resource for the wider church.
  Find out more about them here
  
• Inclusive Church - working for a church that is welcoming and open to all, and also holds a directory of inclusive churches nationwide.
  Find out more about them here
  Support their ministry here
• Accepting Evangelicals - Accepting Evangelicals is a open network of Evangelical Christians who believe the time has come to move towards the acceptance of faithful, loving same-sex partnerships at every level of church life, and the development of a positive Christian ethic for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
  Find out more about them here
• Metropolitan Community Church - a global inclusive church movement
  You can read more about them here
  Find their Western European & United Kingdom ministry groups here (you can support their ministries on their respective pages)
  Support their global ministry here
• Matthew Vines' Reformation Project
  Matthew is a remarkable young man. There are plenty of people who have explained the theology behind inclusive Christianity, but Matthew is perhaps the first to make it available in a YouTube video, in the form of an hour-long lecture, that provides a brief summary of all Scriptural views of homosexuality. Matthew's page is here.
  This video, and it's growth in global popularity, gave rise to a ministry by the name of
  The Reformation Project - a Bible-based, Christian non-profit organisation that seeks to reform church teaching on sexual orientation and gender identity.  Read more about this ministry here.
  The Reformation Project is only available in the USA for now, but is hopefully coming to the UK soon.
  Support Matthew's Reformation Project here.
  I'm hoping to get the chance to meet Matthew at some point over the course of my Sabbatical, but obviously time-permitting for both of us.

Community / campaigning groups

• StonewallProbably the group many people think of first when thinking of a group working towards equality for LGBT people.
  Find out more about Stonewall here
  Find out about the many ways you can support Stonewall here.

This list is not exhaustive, but a brief introduction into a few of the groups I've had the pleasure of being in contact with - and supporting - over the last year or two.  The people in these groups are extremely hard-working and dedicated, but they desperately need support - in whatever form you can offer it - to continue to fight for equality for the LGBT community in our government and in our faith communities.

I regularly tweet about Equality and Equal Marriage (although not exclusively) ... you can follow my twitter feed here.

Pray for equality

The Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement have issued the following call to action in support of Equal Marriage:
______________________________________________________________

1)  Join the Rally for Marriage Equality on Monday 3rd June from 5.30pm  at the statue of George V in Old Palace Yard, London SW1, diagonally opposite the main entrance to the House of Commons.
2)  Pray. The Evangelical Alliance along with other Christian groups that oppose marriage equality have published a call to prayer. Here is our response using the same format that is being printed in GayStar News:
Please pray:

• That the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill will become law and that it will be promoted in society for the good of all.
• That on Monday 3 June a majority of Peers will vote in favour of the bill.
• For the Equal Love Campaign and all the other LGBT Christian organisations as they campaign to remove the exclusion of same sex couples to marriage.
• For parliamentarians and others in public life to have the courage to stand up for their convictions for equality.
• For the news media, that they would report the issue widely, fairly, and accurately.
• That the real benefits of opening up marriage to same sex couples would be publicly known and properly discussed.
• That people would not face discrimination or be perpetrators of discrimination, in the workplace or elsewhere, because of their sincere beliefs about marriage.

Open prayer is encouraged, but this written prayer may also be of help:

Loving God,

We thank you for the gift of marriage which you established at the dawn of time, to be a blessing for all generations throughout the earth, down through the ages.

We pray that you would fill each and every marriage with your love and grace, and that every couple would know the joy that comes from sharing and giving.

We thank you for establishing marriage to be a secure and stable environment for raising children and becoming all you have called us to be.

We pray, as you have commanded us, for those in positions of civil authority.

We ask that you would bless our nation as the Government seeks to open up marriage to make it available to all your children.

We pray that our government will act with wisdom and righteousness, promoting marriage for all couples to whom you have given the gift of love for each other so that marriage will truly become what you want it to be - for the good of all people.

We pray for our nation, as our government seeks to open up marriage, that they will embrace this change. And we pray for ourselves, that we would speak out in support of equal marriage with gentleness and kindness, but also with courage and confidence.

In the name of Christ Jesus our Lord we pray.

Amen.

______________________________________________________________

I won't be able to make the vigil, but I will be praying.  I'll be praying for equality, inclusivity and victory of good over evil.  Our faith is a faith based on the person of Jesus, the great practitioner of social inclusion.  Following his example, ours is a faith that includes the tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, lame, the children, the guilty, the social outcasts, the political outcasts and those on the religious fringes.

To be closing ranks and excluding others based on their identity is not a Christian principle. It may be one that can be Biblically backed up by a select extraction of verses, but that is an incorrect use of Scripture to enforce views that are not in keeping with our radical, inclusive faith.

Praying for equality for all!

Why I BELIEVE FIRMLY in Equal Marriage ...

I was asked by a contact at the Portsmouth News to respond to some comments made about the government's Equal Marriage proposals (article here).  Here is the letter I sent. I don't know if it'll be used, but I wanted to include it in my blog, to keep the coversation going. Equality needs a voice.

Dear Sir / Madam

I am saddened by the response of many Christians and churches to the government’s consultation on Equal Marriage.  As an ordained member of the Church of England clergy, I stand wholeheartedly behind the Prime Minister’s stance on Equal Marriage.

My understanding of the proposal is that it will aim to allow loving same-sex couples to enter into loving, long-term, committed marriages, with the full legal protection that marriage offers.  No more of the strange terminology of attempting to say that someone is “civilly partnered” to someone else, and no more of the differentiation in society where a Civil Partnership is somehow less than a marriage.

If I could look at some of the arguments against Equal Marriage:

• Those who argue against Equal Marriage, stating that Civil Partnership is the legal equivalent of marriage, but with a different name, don’t understand the legal complexities and the differences between the two.  The fact is that Civil Partners don’t enjoy the same legal protection and provision as married couples.
• Those who state that Equal Marriage is against their faith, need to understand that it is against THEIR INTERPRETATION of their faith (or someone else’s interpretation passed along to them). There are other ways of reading Scripture, other ways of interpreting tradition, and other ways of being Christian. The existence of the Lesbian & Gay Christian Movement, Accepting Evangelicals, Two:23, Courage UK, Inclusive Church and other groups in the UK – not to mention International groups are evidence of that.
  I also really struggle with people of faith, who state that they accept the LGBT community, but then label their loving relationships as a perversion of family values, with catastrophic consequences for the future.  In statements like that, it won’t be the message of acceptance that the LGBT community hears, and it certainly won’t instill (& hasn’t instilled-) in them the desire to explore faith.
• Those who try to panic people into believing that the proposed changes will result in churches being forced to conduct same-sex marriages have either not read – or not understood – the proposals, and haven’t looked at history.
  There are churches the whole world over that won’t perform marriage ceremonies for people who are divorced, as a matter of conscience.  They have the freedom to do so, and the divorced couples seek another church. This matter is no different.  The consultation was simply looking at whether or not some faith communities should be allowed to opt in, if they wish, the same way some choose to remarry divorcees.
• Finally, I struggle with those that play the numbers game; that state that the LGBT community should not be allowed Equal Marriage, because they are in the minority? I thought the purpose of Equality legislation was precisely to protect minority groups.  The majority already have a voice, and already enjoy a privileged place in society by virtue of being the majority. We should be concerned with ensuring that minority groups are treated as equal, and allowed to be full, contributing, equal & fully human members of society.

It is because of my faith that I strongly believe in extending marriage to same sex couples, in order to affirm in them the possibility of knowing the fullness of love and expressing that to each other and their community.  To me, that’s more in line with my faith and the love of God, than any message of exclusion could be.

I also firmly believe that Equal Marriage will strengthen our communities and our families, and make sure that those families that are currently viewed as inferior & hidden, are able to flourish.

With kind regards

Agents against change ...

While we're on the topic of tiring of people who want to oppress the LGBT community & keep them separate & make sure they can't live openly, honestly and freely as committed & married couples in society, I tire of their nonsensical arguments.

When they can't appeal to reason & open communication, they resort to scaremongering, such as saying the LGBT community is going to cause a breakdown in the moral fibre of society, they will be harvesting straight couples' children for the gay cause, somehow allowing two people to marry will result in people wanting to marry animals, etc., etc..  With these points they merely show themselves to be fools.

When they can't scare people into following their points of view, they resort to trying to convince people that the LGBT community is not deserving of equality, because they are somehow not whole people ... they are not created in God's image, they are sexual deviants who should be shown (or trained) how to be 'normal', they are a result of a broken world and should be pitied but not equal.  With these arguments they just show themselves to be bigots, wanting to get people to side with them, because they're somehow superior (ie. school bully mentality).

If that doesn't work, then they resort to the argument that the LGBT community has never had equality before, and things have been ok, so why change now?  We've never had equal marriage before, so why introduce it now?  Of course, if this argument had been successful with other equality issues in the past, we wouldn't have women in the workplace, mixed marriages, the disability discrimination act and we'd still have slavery.  This is never a good argument against change and just shows them to be irrational and bigoted.

On BBC Breakfast this morning, MP Peter Bone claimed that Equal Marriage should not be introduced, because it wasn't in the Conservative Party Manifesto (appealing to the 'Why introduce change now' method of reasoning).  I'd like to address this fallacy.  It was indeed in the Conservative Party Manifesto 2010 - A Contract for Equalities (page 14), where it states:

We support civil partnerships and will
recognise civil partnerships in the tax system.
our plans to end the couple penalty in the
tax credits system and to introduce a new
system of flexible parental leave will apply
to all couples, regardless of whether they are
heterosexual or same sex couples.
We will also consider the case for changing the
law to allow civil partnerships to be called and
classified as marriage.

It was also covered by the press (see Pink News article here), so can't have been a surprise.

However, this has already been covered with Peter Bone by the LGBTory group (covered in this article by Pink News).  This seems to show another strategy that those against Equal Marriage attempt to employ ... they ignore the evidence, and keep making their claims, in the hope that saying it often enough will convince people of it's truth.

They're running out of reasons to oppress ... I'll be interested to see what comes up next.

Oppressor or Oppressed

I want to be patient and understanding with people who are against Equal Marriage. I want to engage in sensible and sensitive conversation with them and reach a deeper understanding of each others' viewpoints. I want to ... I really do.

But, the more I read some of the comments and outbursts against Equal Marriage, the more I'm struggling to take them seriously, when they're claiming that the introduction of Equal Marriage would be a violation of their rights and would result in them being oppressed or forced into performing things they morally object to.

I'm struggling to be patient and take them seriously, because I find it strange that they keep crying for the permission to continue oppressing others, because to be denied that would be a form of oppression against them.

An online dictionary offers the following description, which may be informative:
op·press  (-prs) tr.v. op·pressed, op·press·ing, op·press·es 1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority.

In case that doesn't help, I'd like to offer a few handy points that may help people understand the difference between the oppressed and the oppressors:

• Have you ever been stopped from marrying the person you love?
• Have you ever felt that nervous excitement when you begin to fall in love with someone, but been unable to tell them, in case they don't share your attraction and will publicly humiliate you, or beat you up?
• Despite that, have you met someone and entered into a loving, long-term relationship, but been unable to hold the hand of the person you love in public, for fear of being beaten up?
• Have you ever been told it would be better for you to marry someone you're not attracted to and don't love, because others would find that more acceptable than marrying someone of the same gender?
• In trying to defend the act of stopping you marrying the person you love, have you had your love compared to beastiality, paedophilia, necrophilia, incest or adultery?
• Have you been turned away from a faith community for being honest about who you are?
• Have you ever been told that a faith community will accept you for who you are, and after joining, discover that there are conditions such as not ever telling them when you feel lonely, are attracted to someone, start dating and fall in love?
• If you happened to have been a part of a faith community before you shared honestly with that community about who you were, were you then shamed and kicked out of that faith community?
• If you weren't kicked out of your faith community, were you subjected to humiliation as they prayed regularly that God would change you into someone they were more comfortable with?
• Have you had allegedly well-meaning people suggest that you submit yourself to "reprogramming", so that they can attempt to get you to forget your identity and change you into someone they find more acceptable?
• If, despite all the odds, and the people who hate you, and say that you disgust them, you manage to meet someone and fall in love, have you then had to keep them a secret and lie about who they are to friends, family and colleagues, even though you're desperately proud of them, for fear of being kicked out of your job or your home?
• Have you, as a result of placing your trust in someone and, sharing with them about your identity or your partner, suffered that horrible reality of losing your family or your career (or both)?
• Have you had to live for years in secret with your partner, because either (or both) of your families don't want to know about your beloved partner ... even though you both love and nurture each other ... simply because they don't like your partner's genitalia?
• Have you ever been turned away from a hospital when trying to visit your beloved, or trying to obtain information about your beloved, because your partner happens to be the same gender?
• Have you been banned from giving blood, even if you've only ever had sex with ONE person, in a stable relationship, WITH a condom?
• When you manage to put up with all of that, meet someone who you love and who loves you back, and despite all odds, you stay together until you die, are you likely to have your spouse pension be smaller than your colleagues, because you happened to be in a relationship with someone of the same gender that society wasn't comfortable with?
• When, tragically, one of you passes away, will you face the reality that you may lose the ability to leave your possessions to each other, and care for the remaining partner, because the deceased's family may disagree and may want their possessions and finances.

If you can't answer "Yes" to the above, then you're unlikely to be the oppressed.  My guess is that most of the people who are crying out about the unfairness of Equal Marriage have not faced many (or any) of the above horror scenarios.  Sadly, however, the LGBT community faces them every day.

If you still mistakenly think that you're possibly going to be oppressed by the introduction of Equal Marriage, let's get a few things straight:

• Nobody is going to force you to marry someone you don't want to.
• Nobody is going to force any church / mosque / synagogue or other faith community to perform a same-sex marriage, if that community doesn't want to.  All over the world, churches exist that won't perform marriages for divorced people, and they have the freedom to make that decision.
• However, just as you may believe that God is against Equal Marriage, there are many who believe firmly that God is for it, and also use Scripture to back up their views.  So, those communities that WANT TO perform these ceremonies, MAY be able to (it's not guaranteed ... it's just in discussion) ... in the same way that some churches choose to perform the remarriage of divorcees.
• Despite your views, IF you get invited to a same-sex wedding, nobody is going to force you to attend. People the world over turn down wedding invitations every day, and the sky doesn't fall.
• And, please, rest assured, unlike your office banter, the LGBT community are extremely unlikely to want to share anything about their sex lives with you, so if what happens in their bedrooms enters your mind at all, it's probably purely down to you.
• Contrary to popular scare-mongering, nobody is going to be recruiting children to the LGBT community ... but children will be encouraged to be themselves, without the fear of being disowned, excommunicated, beaten up or driven out.

I hope that clears things up somewhat.  If you're not the oppressed, then there is only one other group you fit into.  Also, please please PLEASE remember the importance of straight allies in all of this.  If you support the LGBT community, please let it be known.  Your voice is needed.  Blog, petition, sign, write to your MPs ... whatever, but remain engaged and help improve the lives of others.

Thank you.

What is sin?

Someone posted the following comment on our www.out4marriage.org (video link here):

Equal marriage encourages sin.
You should know that if you've read the Bible AND you are listening to God.
If being a sodomite isn't sinful, is fornicating?
If being a sodomite isn't sinful, is adultery?
What is sin in YOUR opinion?

This is my response:
To offer an overly simplistic answer to a complex issue:

Adultery is the betrayal of a committed marriage relationship and fornication typically refers to consensual sex between non-married adults. Neither deals with people actually desiring to love and commit to each other.
Surely, people who deny equal marriage to same-sex couples are - in fact - encouraging these behaviours, outside of committed loving marriage.

As far as I'm concerned, sin is deliberately acting in a way which harms others or harms your relationship with God.

Committing to love someone for life does neither of those ... however, pointing fingers at others & creating a distance between them and their Creator, does both of those.


Consider the words of Matthew 18:6-7:
Causing to stumble
6 ‘If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung round their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 7 Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble! Such things must come, but woe to the person through whom they come!

They then responded:
" creating a distance between them and their Creator "

Whatever I say doesn't create distance between a person and their creator but sin does. Christ died to close the distance between God and man but expects believers (and gives them the ability) to know what sin is. Your analysis of what sin is, is not correct.
Judging the behaviour of people who have no Christian profession is futile but those that profess Christ ought to be judged from within so they stop sinning.

To which I responded:
It does create a distance if your words cause them to abandon their faith because they believe that they are unwelcome.

I wouldn't want to be responsible for that. I would much rather affirm and include, and leave it to God to judge.

Romans 2:1-4
God’s righteous judgment

1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realising that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?

________________________________________________________________________

It's interesting to me that the person will refuse to interact with references from Scripture when offered in defence of the LGBT community, but will happily quote them when wanting to condemn.  This is much more about a personal agenda that drives the use of Scripture, than it is about obedience to Scripture.

Equal Marriage

The government's consultation has brought much out in the open ... some good ... a lot bad.

The good:

• It's raised awareness of just how poorly Civil Partnership measures up to marriage, and how big the legal inequalities are.  Very few people, including members of the LGBT community, were aware of this.  This has been the primary reason that those who campaign against it have been able to quote that "The gay people I know don't want equal marriage" ... it's not that some gay people actually think they have all they need in law, it's that they don't know how much they're currently discriminated against & not protected by their country's laws.  This is changing.
• As a result, it's also encouraged many people to engage more with the politics of equal rights - members of the LGBT community, as well as supporters & allies.  It's also encouraged a lot of straight people to sit up and say, we think of it as marriage ... our friends are not getting 'Civil Partnered', they're getting married.
• It's even encouraged many faith groups (Christian & other) to step in and say that - altough the consultation only affects Civil Marriage, they would like to perform same-sex marriages, which is a wonderful affirmation for the LGBT members. 

The bad:

• Sadly, the whole process has encouraged people to make increasingly alarming & bigoted remarks, and to feel perfectly justified in doing so.  People have been equating gay marriage to beastiality & paedophilia once more, and claiming that the LGBT community ultimately want to normalise gay lifestyle, because they want to recruit the straight community's children.  Comments like this are obviously unhelpful, untrue and profoundly unintelligent.
• It has also encouraged a lot of bigoted comments by people, using sections of Scripture as their motivation, and using Scripture to communicate their own political viewpoints, rather than the other way round.  Perhaps this is why people are feeling they have permission to verbally abuse the LGBT community once more ... because people are telling them that God is on their side.
• Unfortunately, there is also a concerted effort to scare people into a delirious frenzy because the very fabric of their human existence is apparently going to be threatened by two people of the same sex declaring their love for each other publicly, and receiving the support of their communities & the legal protection of their country.  People are being told that making this positive step will undermine family values and cause a breakdown in society ... which is obviously not the case.
• Amazingly, some MP's are claiming that they've not heard of any LGBT person who wants Equal Marriage! Evidently they must not have televisions, radios or computers.  Or perhaps they somehow feel less guilty about denying people's rights if they pretend there are no people whose rights are being denied. They just don't exist, therefore I cannot be harming them.

Personally, I would like to hope that people make the right decision for the safety of all members of society. A government should not be encouraged to deny the rights of any segment of society, no matter how small, because doing so would be unpopular. The nature of the law is that it SHOULD protect minority groups, precisely because they're minority.

• Society will not fall apart because gay people marry. On the contrary, it will encourage greater commitment of relationships, will encourage people to be more honest and open about their lives. It will affirm families, because gay households will be secure places to live and raise children.
• Those who struggle with the term 'marriage' and don't want to emulate it, but instead want to pursue a civil partnership will still be able to do so (and indeed, this should be extended to straight couples, too), while those who wish to marry will be able to do that.
• Contrary to the scare-mongering, religious organisations & faith groups will NOT be forced to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies if they don't wish to.  There are many churches who currently will not marry divorcees, or - in some cases - couples where one partner is not a member of the faith, until they profess that faith. This is not challenged and they are not fined or forced.  Same sex marriage will be no different.  And provided it's communicated honestly, with respect, I think it's right that people be allowed to stand by their convictions.  The law protects their right to do so ... why should the law not be allowed to protect the relationships of LGBT people, too.
• At the end of the day, it's not about straight people being forced to do anything ... it's about whether or not we believe the LGBT community are equal citizens, worthy of equal protection under the law. To deny the LGBT community the right to equal marriage, is to use the power of the majority to bully the minority.

I hope that equality will prevail, but I'm realistic enough to know that history is littered with examples where the majority have felt too uncomfortable to change the status quo and have instead decided to maintain the status quo where the minority are less equal.

Mike & I will be Civil Partnered in June 2012 ... a day which for us (& our friends & families) will be one of the greatest days of our lives, the day where we publicly declare our love & commitment to love each other for life. It will be an affirming day & a loving day, and a true celebration of love.  It does, however, sadden us that we can't get married, which is what all our friends and family are calling it.  The language, to them, is marriage.  The law doesn't allow it, but they've called it marriage from the word go.  We could wait to see what happens with the government consultation, but we want to commit to each other.  If equal marriage does go through, we will apply to change our Civil Partnership to a marriage.

It also saddens us that we can't include our faith fully in that ... we are being forced to separate our commitment into a secular registration ceremony, and then had to hunt around for a church that we thought would be willing to allow us to have some sort of ceremony where we can pray & be prayed for. It's a bit ludicrous that I'm ordained as a priest, and can't bring my relationship into my denomination. It's quite shameful that we can't even call our service a 'blessing', because the public line is that the Church of England does not officially 'bless' same sex unions.  It'll bless battle ships, park benches, donkeys, cats, dogs, jewellery & buildings ... but not a loving and committed same-sex couple.

That, to me, feels extremely discriminatory ... "you and your relationship are of less worth than concrete or trinkets".

As a result, it felt like the right thing for us to record a video in support of the http://www.out4marriage.org/ campaign, which hopefully will also serve as a bit of encouragement for the LGBT community from a person of faith, when they're encountering so many negative messages at the moment, and being told they are abominations, disordered, ill, sick, etc., etc..

I hope the government do the right thing.  I hope the faith communities do the right thing.

"Equal, but different, just isn't equal."

Link to the government consultation: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/consultations/equal-civil-marriage/
Link to the Coalition 4 Equal Marriage: http://www.c4em.org.uk/
Link to the Out 4 Marriage page: http://out4marriage.org/
Some further discussion about the Bible & the LGBT community: http://youtu.be/ezQjNJUSraY
Some of the differences between Civil Partnership & Equal Marriage: http://youtu.be/vT6I72W9SMM