BBC: A 12-week consultation on allowing gay couples in England and Wales to marry is being launched by the government.
Ministers say it would lift another barrier to equality and give gay partners the same rights as those enjoyed by opposite sex couples.
But the proposal is fiercely opposed by some senior church figures, as well as a number of Conservative MPs.
Ben Geoghegan reports. Watch BBC video » | Thursday, March 15, 2012
BBC: Gay marriage: Nick Clegg at odds with Tory plan for free vote – Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has rejected Conservative plans to treat gay marriage as a "conscience issue" on which MPs do not follow a party line. » | Sunday,, May 27, 2012
