Richard Graham
Main Page: Richard Graham (Conservative - Gloucester)(11 years, 5 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
Maria Miller
The people of Macclesfield are well represented by my hon. Friend, and I know that the importance of family ranks high in his life as well. I can assure him that the amendments that we will introduce to the Equality Act 2010 will provide protections in local law to ensure that individuals, and indeed religious institutions, need have no fear of action being brought against them on equality grounds. I hope that he will be able to convey those reassurances to his constituents.
Richard Graham (Gloucester) (Con)
Although the debate is still divisive, I welcome the balance struck by my right hon. Friend’s proposals to make marriage—which so many of us value hugely—available to all who want to be married, while protecting the freedoms of those who disagree. The last of the four important proposed legal locks recognises the opposition of the Church of England, and will make it illegal for same-sex marriages to be conducted in C of E churches. Can my right hon. Friend confirm that it will be possible for Roman Catholic and evangelical churches to opt out in a similar way if they so wish?
Maria Miller
My hon. Friend is right to say that what we are trying to establish today is a balanced approach. I can tell him that the various mechanisms that I have outlined today will provide protections that both the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church have identified to me at both national and local level.