THE INDEPENDENT: Gay couples will finally win the right to marry, Downing Street insisted last night, despite an escalating campaign of opposition led by a former Archbishop of Canterbury and some Conservative MPs.
Lord Carey provoked an angry backlash from gay couples and campaigners as he denounced the move as a "hostile strike" on the traditional view of marriage. There will now be a furious battle ahead of this spring's Queen's Speech, in which proposals could be announced, with the aim of the first gay weddings taking place by 2015 at the latest.
Tory right-wingers gave their backing to a new pressure group, Coalition for Marriage, which accused the Government of having no mandate for the move – and claimed the public was on its side.
But Downing Street insisted that David Cameron remained determined to end the discrimination faced by homosexual couples. A senior source said: "Nothing has changed on this as far as he is concerned. He is very passionate about this subject – it is something that has defined him." » | Nigel Morris, Nick Clark, Andrew Grice and Terri Judd | Tuesday, February 21, 2012
