Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill

Debate between Richard Drax and Baroness Keeley

Tuesday 5th February 2013 Commons Chamber

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Harrow East (Bob Blackman). I pay tribute to everyone who has spoken, not least my hon. Friend the Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller), who gave a gentle and humble speech. I hope to follow him along those lines, because it is important that we debate this sensibly and calmly.

I, like all Members in the Chamber, want to see loving couples and happy families. We all want that to be the case, but I think—and I shall vote against the Bill—that this is a step too far and a sad day for marriage as I and millions of people in this country understand it. I regret to say that there is an element of token politics in this, which I do not like. We are talking about redefining marriage. I do not understand “redefining marriage”. Where do we stop? What can we redefine next? Shall we redefine “husband”, “wife”, “parents”, “children”, “Mr and Mrs”? Let us keep on redefining until we change everything that I and many others hold dear.

I do not want the nation to be full of grey nothings, because that is what will happen if we go on reacting when people say that their sensibilities have been upset. I am concerned in particular about the unintended consequences of the Bill, which have been mentioned again and again, and for good reason. I paint a picture of a teacher in a school who does not agree with the Bill. Will she say to the headmaster or headmistress, “I don’t want to give this lesson”? What will happen to that teacher if she objects on grounds of conscience? Evidence shows that, regrettably, that teacher will be disadvantaged.

[Barbara Keeley]

rose—

[Richard Drax]

I shall carry on, because other colleagues wish to speak.

I do not agree that this is about discrimination, persecution or prejudice—words that have been used this afternoon and, dare I say it, thrown around the Chamber a bit like confetti. This is about the Christian faith. I am not a great practising Christian—I am not here in my box—but this is about the Christian faith, and we are in effect undermining its core belief that marriage is between a man and a woman. I have heard the word, “want”—“We want this”—again and again and again. All of us want lots of things, but there are consequences. What I have not heard in the cry for rights is the word, “responsibilities”. One member of my constituency, a gay man, said to me, “Richard, I do not agree with this, because I respect the institution of marriage, and I do not want to undermine that in any way. There is no call for that, and I do not want the gay community to go there.”

Finally, it is a sad day when a Conservative Prime Minister uses, in effect, the Opposition and our colleagues on the Front Benches to push this through. It is a sad day for democracy, and a sad day for our party.