Ben Summerskill vs Pink News

Last Sunday i blogged Ben Summerskill disappoints me (again).

I concluded by saying:

It was Ben’s comments at that meeting that damaged the reputation of Ben Summerskill and Stonewall among many Liberal Democrats and other supporters of same-sex marriage. I was disappointed in him then.

Despite Stonewall’s subsequent change in policy to support equality, for many people Ben Summerskill’s legacy at Stonewall will be remembered as including being behind the curve on same-sex marriage.

He now looks like he is blaming “cynical” Liberal Democrats for pushing the equality agenda faster that he wanted. And I am disappointed in him again.

That followed Pink News posting two stories:

Outrage as Ben Summerskill claims Lib Dems cynically and opportunistically supported equal marriage

Former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris refutes Ben Summerskill’s claim of ‘cynical’ support of equal marriage

Since then, Pink News has posted the following stories:

Sunday

Comment: Stonewall should distance itself from Ben Summerskill’s Lib Dem equal marriage comments
A comment article by Lib Dem councillor (and my friend) Mathew Hulbert defending the party against Ben's accusations

Monday

Nick Clegg is ‘sad and disappointed’ ex-Stonewall boss Ben Summerskill is trying to divide LGBT community
The Lib Dem leader joins in

Lib Dem MP Stephen Gilbert: Ben Summerskill tried to ‘rewrite history’ with attack on Lib Dems
As does a gay Lib Dem involved in the equal marriage campaign

Michael Cashman MEP: Ben Summerskill’s attack on Lib Dems undermines Stonewall’s founding principles
A Labour MEP and co-founder of Stonewall defends the Lib Dems

Comment: Ben Summerskill was ‘cynical’ about equal marriage, not the Lib Dems
A comment article by a former Lib Dem turned Labour activist also defends the Lib Dems

Tuesday

Lynne Featherstone: Former Stonewall boss Ben Summerskill ‘couldn’t be more wrong’
The Lib Dem minister who initially piloted the legislation through parliament responds

Wednesday

Ex-Stonewall boss Ben Summerskill: ‘10% of gay people are completely opposed to equal marriage’
Defending Stonewall's inaction from 2010 to 2012

On Thursday evening, Stonewall held an Equality Dinner to celebrate the anniversary of its founding. Ben Summerskill does not attend but tweets about it.

Friday

Stonewall co-founder: Ben Summerskill is damaging charity by attacking staff, trustees and sponsors
Michael Cashman goes on the offensive

Monday

Stonewall rejects allegations from Ben Summerskill that chair of board was sacked
Stonewall finally makes a statement - but only about the chair of its board, not Ben Summerskills comments about the Lib Dems.

So 11 stories in 8 days…

In the latest story Ben Summerskill is quoted accusing Pink News of having a “long history of a vendetta against Stonewall”.

Pink News said it has no vendetta, in a statement it said: “Since he has departed the organisation, we can report that we are on extremely good terms with its acting chief executive and chair and look forward to working together with Stonewall on projects to benefit the community as a whole.”

The stories do seem numerous but at the same time each are individually justified as a development in the story. 

In this case, my sympathies are with Pink News.

Ben Summerskill disappoints me (again)

Ben Summerskill (former Chief Executive of Stonewall) has stirred up controversy today thanks to an article in today’s Observer. 

Gay marriage in 2013 - A reflection

It's the season to look back (and forward). Last year i posted Five Equal Marriage predictions for 2013 and the world has definitely moved on - so how did i do...

1. Equal marriage will be passed in England and Wales
The big vote in the House of Commons on the Marriage (Same Sex) Couples Bill was on it's third reading in May - a vote won by 366 votes to 161 votes. The bill then progressed to the House of Lords. A wrecking amendment was defeated in June and finally approved the bill in July. Royal Assent was soon granted and the bill became law. Not surprisingly I was pleased. It was recently announced that same-sex weddings will take place from 29 March 2014 although it is still not clear when civil partnerships will be able to be upgraded.

Score - 1 for me!

2. Equal marriage will be passed in Scotland
Scotland has been lagging a bit behind England and Wales. A proposed draft bill was published in December 2012 for consultation. The actual draft bill was published in June and reviewed by a committee in September before being approved by them in November.There are still more stages to go through but the signs are looking good.

Score - 1/2 (for now)

3. Equal marriage will not be passed in Northern Ireland
Whilst the Marriage (Same Sex) Couples Bill only covered England and Wales, MPs from Northern Ireland (and Scotland) could vote on it. Only two MPs from Northern Ireland voted in favour of it, whilst nine voted against and two did not vote. This set the scene for a vote in April in the Northern Ireland Assembly on a motion calling for legislation to allow same-sex marriage in the province. The vote was lost by 53 votes to 42 (with all the unionists voting against, the nationalists in favour and the Alliance party split). The Northern Ireland Equality Commission has declared that it supports equal marriage but i doubt that the politicians will change their minds.

There has been some progress on other areas of gay equality in Northern Ireland with the condemnation of the irrational lifetime ban on blood donation by gay men and lifting of a ban on adoption by gay (and unmarried) couples. I hope that equal marriage will eventually come to Northern Ireland, but i fear that that will be in many years.

Score - 1 (Unfortunately!)

4. Equal marriage will be passed in more countries around the world, but not the USA as a whole
The USA Supreme Court will be reviewing two gay-related cases in 2013 - one against the Defence of Marriage Act and one against Proposition 8. I'm no lawyer (and not American) but i expect the Defence of Marriage Act will be struck down, recognising that marriage is a state issue in the USA and therefore the federal government should recognise same-sex marriages if the relevant state does. The Prop 8 case is more complicated. I strongly doubt that the Supreme Court would rule that there is a nation-wide constitutional right to equal marriage. I expect that there will be a compromise so that equal marriage becomes legal in California but not automatically anywhere else.
During 2013 Brazil, France, Uruguay, and New Zealand legalised same-sex marriage. In the USA, back in June the Supreme Court first of all struck down part of the Defence of Marriage Act and then ruled that the proponents of Prop 8 had no right to appeal an appeal court decision allowing equal marriage in California (but only California). During 2013, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, New Jersey, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, and Utah (temporarily) all legalised same-sex marriage. So now 17 states (and the District of Columbia) has legalised same-sex marriage - good progress!

Score - 1 for me

5. Equal marriage will not mean the end of: the world/religious liberty/the right to criticise
OK so this was me being sarcastic but it true that the world is still here and the universal declaration of human rights still includes the right of freedom of religion and freedom of speech.

Score - 1 

Result - 4 1/2 out of 5 - Woop woop!

Same sex rulings in India and Australia - the struggle goes on

There has been a recent flurry of gay-related news and it's not been all good...

India top court reinstates gay sex ban

Australia ban on gay marriage in Australian Capital Territory

Despite quotes declaring that the ruling “took India back to 1860”, the rulings actually take the countries back to 2009 and October 2013 respectively. In both cases, a court has decided that sex and marriage laws should be decided at a national level, rather than a province or a territory.

In the UK, marriage law is devolved. That means that the UK government has made same-sex marriage legal in England and Wales. Scotland is still considering it. However Northern Ireland politicians keep stopping even debating it (although in a small sign of progress, it has just lifted its ban on gay adoption)

The variations are bound to cause inconsistencies and arguments in the future. Making the decision at the UK level (as was the case for civil partnerships as they were specifically not marriages, which is devolved) seems quite appealing.

Of course I believe that there should be legal same-sex sex and equal marriage in all countries, but I also believe that the people of each country should be able determine their own laws, and that includes deciding their own sex and marriage laws, at whatever level they decide is appropriate.

I hope that the rulings in India and Australia will lead to a ground-swell of support for change at the national level in both countries. It won’t be quick and there are bound to be more setbacks but it will be the right thing to do.

Image from http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/71689000/jpg/_71689140_gaymarriage2.jpg

Same Sex Marriage now legal in England and Wales!

Today the Same-Sex Marriage Bill was given Royal Assent following final approval by the House of Lords and the House of Commons. The first weddings in England and Wales should happen next summer.

Woop woop!

From my perspective, the congratulations should be sent to the following:

• Peter Tatchell (who launched the Equal Love campaign)
• The Equality Network (leading the campaign in Scotland since 2008)
• LGBT+ Liberal Democrats (who got the party to support equal marriage as party policy)
• Lynne Featherstone (the former equalities minister who started the parliamentary process)
• Benjamin Cohen (the driving force behind Out4Marriage and Pink News)
• The Coalition for Equal Marriage (an awesome grassroots organisation)

The role of Stonewall has been interesting to watch. From initially opposing the policy to then making it a priority campaign. I'm sure that it has been heavily involved behind the scenes, usings its knowledge of parliamentary processes and contacts with MPs and Lords to get the bill through. I remain a supporter of Stonewall but can see why other people are not.

So the question remains: Will we get a free upgrade from our civil partnership or do we need to plan another celebration?

UPDATE: Forgot to say - this makes one of my Five Equal Marriage predictions for 2013 to be true!

Five Equal Marriage predictions for 2013

It is the season to look back and look ahead. Here are some equal marriage-related predictions for 2013...

1. Equal marriage will be passed in England and Wales
The UK government recently announced that civil marriage would be opened to same-sex couples and that religions (except for the established Church of England) would be able to opt-in to also offer equal marriage. Even with all three major political parties having a free vote, i expect that this will pass the House of Commons with a clear majority. The House of Lords may be a problem but this has become a high profile government policy and so should be passed.


2. Equal marriage will be passed in Scotland
Marriage is a devolved issue and the Scottish government is also consulting on a draft Marriage & Civil Partnership bill. Equal marriage is supported by all the parties in the Scottish parliament (as long as religions are not forced to marry people they don't want to) so i also expect this to go through (probably quicker than for England and Wales as it does not have to go through the House of Lords).

3. Equal marriage will not be passed in Northern Ireland
Marriage is also devolved to Northern Ireland. There are civil partnerships in Northern Ireland as they were passed before the issue was devolved. A motion in favour of equal marriage was rejected in September 2012, with only the Greens and Sinn Fein in favour. The Alliance party has made some progress on the issue but unless the DUP changes its policy, i can't see equal marriage being passed for a very long time. The chair of the campaign for marriage equality in Northern Ireland has said that one future possibility is judicially forcing the recognition of same-sex marriages registered in the rest of the UK (but that won't be until 2014 at the earliest). 

4. Equal marriage will be passed in more countries around the world, but not the USA as a whole
There have been promising developments in Uruguay and TaiwanTaiwan, and also in states in Mexico and the USA. The USA Supreme Court will be reviewing two gay-related cases in 2013 - one against the Defence of Marriage Act and one against Proposition 8. I'm no lawyer (and not American) but i expect the Defence of Marriage Act will be struck down, recognising that marriage is a state issue in the USA and therefore the federal government should recognise same-sex marriages if the relevant state does. The Prop 8 case is more complicated. I strongly doubt that the Supreme Court would rule that there is a nation-wide constitutional right to equal marriage. I expect that there will be a compromise so that equal marriage becomes legal in California but not automatically anywhere else.

5. Equal marriage will not mean the end of: the world/religious liberty/the right to criticise
Since 2001, same-sex marriage has been legalised in eleven countries (Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden) and several sub-national jurisdictions (parts of Brazil,Mexico and the United States). The world has not ended. Religious organisations in those countries have not been banned. Citizens still have freedom of speech. Yes forms have been updated. Yes I'm sure children are now taught that same-sex marriage exists. Yes the definition of marriage has changed but that has happened multiple times. Before equal marriage, current marriage law is clearly different to biblical marriage law (as the infographic below shows).