Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

Julian Brazier Excerpts

Monday 20th May 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Leigh]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend, who speaks from the Liberal Democrat Benches, makes the point in a calm and measured way, far better than I could.

[Mr Julian Brazier (Canterbury) (Con)]

I am most grateful to my hon. Friend for making such a powerful speech. In the last few weeks, on a very different subject—a deportation case—we have seen another example of the courts making it clear that neither the views expressed by Ministers nor a resolution of the House are enough to persuade them, when they have taken a fixed view on a human rights point. Only legislation can pin this down.

[Mr Leigh]

Absolutely. The courts made that quite clear recently.

Before somebody leaps to their feet and tries to make out that we are defending people being beastly to gay people in the workplace, let me deal with this important point and make a statement of the obvious: protecting freedom of conscience does not mean protecting the freedom to be beastly to anybody. Equality law protects sexual orientation, gender, race and belief, but no one would say it provides for the right to be horrid to people who disagree with on any of these things, so there is no danger of that happening with new clause 6.