Homosexual 'Marriage'.

UKIP concerns over gay marriage have been realised already. One of the key reasons for UKIP’s opposition to the legislation on gay marriage was that the Party did not believe government assurances about exemptions for religious organisations, so that no religious group would be forced to conduct such a ceremony if it went against their beliefs.

At the time our response to the government consultation included the following: We are quite sure that, whatever the Government's worthy declaration that it proposes no change to the duties of the Church in relation to the estate of marriage, there will ,very soon after the introduction of gay civil marriage, be a challenge in first the domestic courts of England and Wales and then in the European Court of Human Rights alleging that the exclusion of gay people from the right to have a religious ceremony of marriage is unlawful discrimination against them on the grounds of their sexual orientation.

We believe that, given the current nature of the European Court of Human Rights' attitude to such matters, there is a very strong likelihood that the Court at Strasbourg will agree that it is an unlawful discrimination on those grounds and order the United Kingdom to introduce laws which will force Churches to marry gay people according to their rites, rituals and customs.  This conviction is supported by the statement of the Justice Minister, Mr Blunt who is quoted in the Daily Mail of 13th June 2012 saying, "It would be hard to guarantee that clergy would not face court challenges if they refused to preside over same-sex unions.”

But an article in the Essex Chronicle shows, precisely as UKIP feared, that the new law – which has only just received Royal Assent - is already going to be challenged in the courts.  Barrie Drewett-Barlow intends to take legal action, and was quoted as saying “The only way forward for us now is to make a challenge in the courts against the church.”  The full article can be found at http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Gay-dads-set-sue-church-sex-marriage-opt/story-19597954-detail/story.html