Equality should mean equality for everyone, with no one left behind.
Like most ordinary people, I was glad to see Marriage Equality finally extended to Northern Ireland. As a christian and a pastor, it has long been my strongly held religious and social conviction that nobody should be denied the right to enter into a marriage with the person they love - whatever their gender, sexuality or religious persuasion.
It is becoming clear, however, that some are attempting to deny or at least delay Marriage Equality for those wishing to marry in any kind of religious context. Even though The Northern Ireland Act clearly states that they are required to “extend same sex marriage to Northern Ireland by 13 January 2020”, the Northern Ireland Office has arbitrarily decided that it only intends to extend these rights to those entering into “civil” marriages by this date, ie marriages performed by civil registrars or by humanist celebrants. This means that same sex couples wishing to be married by their church representative, or to have prayers, bible readings, blessings or hymns as part of their wedding ceremony, will be prevented from doing so.
So whilst it has been widely reported that many same sex couples will be rightly celebrating humanist and civil marriages on valentines day next year, I wonder how many of us realise that same sex couples of faith will be relegated to the margins once again - still waiting their turn for equality.
As one of many faith communities that supports Marriage Equality, we are aggrieved to hear that same-sex couples of faith will not be afforded the same rights to marry in a religious ceremony as those wishing to marry in a humanist or civil ceremony by 13 January 2020. Furthermore, it is outrageous that our celebrants will not have the same opportunity to perform same sex marriages as humanists celebrants and civil registrars. This is clearly not within the spirit or even the letter of the Conor McGinn and Stella Creasy amendments, which call for complete “marriage equality” and not just “partial marriage equality” to be extended to Northern Ireland by 13 January 2020.
Whilst religious organisations such as the Evangelical Alliance may have taken a regressive position where they claim to “oppose church services of blessing for civil partnerships and reject any redefinition of marriage to encompass same-sex relationships”, they do not even nearly speak for all people of faith. Indeed, many of us have been supporting marriage equality from a religious point of view for years - and our voice and our rights should matter too.
Equality should mean equality for everyone, with no one left behind. We therefore call on all concerned to ensure that our religious freedoms to practice marriage equality alongside everyone else are not arbitrarily delayed or denied to those wishing to avail of them.
This matters to many of us, so please share widely and let's make sure our government implements the Northern Ireland Act without religious discrimination, so that everyone has access to marriage equality by 13 January 2020.