Gay marriage thread

[amateur51]

There may be some reason why you have not tried the link I provided but if you do you will find her explanation given in some detail.
http://protectthepope.com/?p=6679

I apologise, I didn't 'register' your link the first time but I've just read it.

I admire her courage but I think she's wrong and is trying to square being a Liberal with being a Catholic. I've sat through a few weddings (and civil partnership services) and I don't recall there being anything about raising children in the interactive part - perhaps I'm wrong

[ahinton]

my MP, Sarah Teather, has enjoyed my support ever since she spoke up against the invasion of Iraq at a by-election. I wrote congratulating her when she voted againsat the recent welfare changes. She voted against equal marriage and I shall not vote for her again unless she provides me with a good reason for so doing. I suspect that her reason is that her constituency contains a sizeable Muslim presence and she has a modest majority... but I could be wrong

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9852049/Sarah-Teather-votes-against-gay-marriage-despite-website-declaring-pride-in-policy.html

http://brentlibdems.org.uk/en/article/2013/657279/sarah-teather-s-statement-on-tonight-s-vote

I cannot pinpoint the actual evidence in the latter of these (perhaps because it's been removed from Ms Teather's website since she made her statement on the vote) but the form appears to suggest that she undertook a U-turn on it; well, she's not along in doing U-turns, I suppose and, had a certain fellow LibDem done a few more of them all those years ago he might have avoided attracting some "I want to share with you" licence points...

I've never heard her sing; perhaps if this U-turn comes back to bite her at the next General Election, she might find herself turning more of her attention to matters vocal thereafter...

[scottycelt]

Yes - she voted against because that's what her priest (& ultimately the Pope) told her to do, just like so many Scottish Labour MPs

(don't you just love the fact that there's a website called 'Protect the Pope'? Perhaps David Attenborough could do a programme about that endangered species )

Don't be so sour and grumpy, Flossie. Maybe you should vote for Ruth Davidson's party, as that would now appear to be your natural home?

In any case, Attenborough's an atheist and would positively wallow in the papal species' extinction, I'm sure ...

[amateur51]

On tonight's BBC Radio 4's News Quiz, Jeremy Hardy has just said that Cameron is hoping that 'gays will do for marriage what they did for musical theatre'

[eighthobstruction]

Yes excellent Ams, and the way they play the theme "Every ones a fruit and nut case" whenever Gove is mentioned.....

[amateur51]

Yes excellent Ams, and the way they play the theme "Every ones a fruit and nut case" whenever Gove is mentioned.....

It's a rip-roaring episode this week

[eighthobstruction]

Danny Finklestein very funny ....great to have a funny Tory on panel....it never worked with Norman Tebbit and Sir Keith Joseph....

[Pabmusic]

Yes - she voted against because that's what her priest (& ultimately the Pope) told her to do, just like so many Scottish Labour MPs ...

An MP incapable of making up her own mind when she's allowed to by her own party? Who has to obey the orders of a higher authority, whatever view she might have (if she looked hard enough)? Hmm...a good example of the species.

[scottycelt]

An MP incapable of making up her own mind when she's allowed to by her own party? Who has to obey the orders of a higher authority, whatever view she might have (if she looked hard enough)? Hmm...a good example of the species.

Well, she probably deemed that voting according to her conscience and coming to the only logical conclusion based on her faith was somewhat more honourable than tamely marching in tune to the noisy, screeching mob-rule 'liberal' likes of Mr Peter Tatchell ...

I hope she wins her seat at the next election with a thumping majority ... a very brave lady!

[amateur51]

Well, she probably deemed that voting according to her conscience and coming to the only logical conclusion based on her faith was somewhat more honourable than tamely marching in tune to the noisy, screeching mob-rule 'liberal' likes of Mr Peter Tatchell ...

I hope she wins her seat at the next election with a thumping majority ... a very brave lady!

Brave perhaps, confused and conflicted almost certainly

[Pabmusic]

Well, she probably deemed that voting according to her conscience and coming to the only logical conclusion based on her faith was somewhat more honourable than tamely marching in tune to the noisy, screeching mob-rule 'liberal' likes of Mr Peter Tatchell ...

I hope she wins her seat at the next election with a thumping majority ... a very brave lady!

I don't know her personal motive. I was responding to Flosshilde's "she voted against because that's what her priest (& ultimately the Pope) told her to do". If that is true, or is anything like true, then she voted not because she came to "to the only logical conclusion based on her faith", but because she was told to, and her faith overrode her own judgement.

[Mr Pee]

Well, she probably deemed that voting according to her conscience and coming to the only logical conclusion based on her faith was somewhat more honourable than tamely marching in tune to the noisy, screeching mob-rule 'liberal' likes of Mr Peter Tatchell ...

I hope she wins her seat at the next election with a thumping majority ... a very brave lady!

[eighthobstruction]

Well, she probably deemed that voting according to her conscience and coming to the only logical conclusion based on her faith was somewhat more honourable than tamely marching in tune to the noisy, screeching mob-rule 'liberal' likes of Mr Peter Tatchell ...

I hope she wins her seat at the next election with a thumping majority ... a very brave lady!

....I always thought we the constitutents sent our MP's to parliament to represent US and our wishes/intention....surely the wishes of 65% of her costituents (I take an approx average of most polls that I have seen) should be upper most in her mind....

NB.... though I am now sure that someone will now say that in that case hanging would probably be brought back....

[french frank]

....I always thought we the constitutents sent our MP's to parliament to represent US and our wishes/intention

I think technically it is a 'representative democracy' - we just elect representatives not delegates who are 'delegated' to vote in ways that their constituents want.

According to Wiki, "Theorists such as Edmund Burke believe that part of the duty of a representative was not simply to communicate the wishes of the electorate but also to use their own judgement in the exercise of their powers, even if their views are not reflective of those of a majority of voters."

[Stephen Whitaker]

The argument that MPs who voted against are obviously following their conscience and coming to the only logical conclusion based on their faith
and are therefore more honourable than those who (allegedly) tamely marched in tune to the noisy, screeching mob-rule of a single gay rights campaigner
is needlessly insulting to the many MPs who voted yes as a result of their own conscience and beliefs.

By all means disagree with your opponents on grounds of fact or faith but do not seek to win your argument merely by belittling your opponents sincerity,
or by seeking to identify the widespread and broad-based sympathisers with the pro gay marriage campaign, with a single person.