Google – AFP, 15 July 2013
 |
Gay campaigners
rally outside the Houses of Parliament in central London
on July 15, 2013 (AFP,
Andrew Cowie)
|
LONDON —
The first gay marriages in England and Wales are set to take place in 2014
after the legislation passed through parliament's upper chamber the House of
Lords on Monday.
Jubilant
gay rights activists cheered outside parliament as the bill cleared unopposed,
while gay lawmaker Lord Waheed Ali told colleagues in an emotional speech:
"My life and many others will be better today than it was yesterday."
The
government-backed legislation now passes back to the lower House of Commons for
final debates on Tuesday, but they are expected to be little more than a
formality.
A spokesman
for the culture ministry, which is overseeing the legislation, said the bill
would probably receive official assent from Queen Elizabeth II, the head of
state, on Wednesday or Thursday.
"But
we are looking at seeing the first gay weddings in the middle of 2014 because
there are various issues to sort out, such as its impact on pensions," the
spokesman told AFP.
Supporters
of the bill in the House of Lords wore pink carnations, while gay marriage
activists danced outside the Houses of Parliament.
Gay rights
activists have vowed to press on for equal marriage in Britain's other
constituent nations, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Deputy
Prime Minister Nick Clegg said the new law would ensure that lesbian, gay,
bisexual and transgender people felt "recognised and valued, not
excluded".
The
legislation represents "the kind of open, modern, tolerant and diverse
society we want Britain to be in the 21st century", he added.
But
opponents of gay marriage warned that the legislation would "come back to
bite" Prime Minister David Cameron.
The
Coalition for Marriage campaign group said it would mobilise a 700,000-strong
support base ahead of next year's European elections and the general election
in 2015.
The bill
survived despite opposition from dozens of members of Cameron's own
Conservative party, and an attempt to kill it off with a "wrecking
amendment" in the Lords last month failed.
Veteran gay
rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said it was "a defeat for discrimination
and a victory for love and marriage".
"It is
of huge symbolic importance, signalling that same-sex love has social
recognition, acceptance and parity," he said.
Gay couples
in Britain have had the right to enter into a civil partnership since 2005,
giving them identical rights and responsibilities to straight couples in a
civil marriage.
But
campaigners point to some differences such as international recognition, which
applies to marriage but not partnerships.
The new law
will ban the established Churches of England and Wales -- which are opposed to
gay marriage -- from conducting ceremonies.
Other
religious institutions will be able to "opt in" if they wish.
Scotland
and Northern Ireland have their own laws on the matter.
The Scottish
government published its own same-sex marriage bill last month, but Northern
Ireland's assembly voted to block a similar measure.
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Mr Welby was enthroned earlier this month at Canterbury
Cathedral Photo: Getty Images
|
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Question: Dear Kryon: Regarding homosexuality or transsexuals. WHY are they the way they are and WHY are they not accepted in mainstream society?
Answer: [From the Kryon Office]
There is often a tremendous amount of information on subjects that are not necessarily part of the on-line magazine Q&A database. Kryon has been channelling for fourteen years, with 9 books covering many, many topics. Homosexuality was one of them from the very beginning. Please see our "Books index page" for subjects contained in the Kryon books: [http://www.kryon.com/direct.html]
An excerpt from Kryon Book 6, page 306
Question from the book: Dear Kryon, I am gay, and an enlightened man. I live in an American society that barely tolerates me, and actually has some laws against my way of life. The church I used to belong to cast me out as being evil and anti-God. I don't feel that I am violating some Human ethic. My love is as true as any heterosexual, and I am a light worker. Tell me what I should know.
Answer from the book: Dear one, less than two generations from now, there will be those who find this book and laugh at the quaintness of this very question. Before I answer, let me ask you and those reading this to examine a phenomenon about Human society and "God."
Thirty years ago, interracial marriage was considered to be wrong by the laws of God. Now your society finds it common. The spiritual objections around it were either dropped or "rewritten" by those divinely inspired and authorized to do so. Therefore, your actual interpretations of the instructions from God changed with your society's tolerance level--an interesting thing, indeed, how the interpretations of God seem to change regularly to match a changing culture!
The truth, of course, is that you find yourself in a situation that is known to create a test for you. Right now, in this time, you have agreed to come into your culture with an attribute that may alienate you from friends and religious followers. You have faced fear of rejection and have had to "swim upstream," so to speak, just as an everyday life occurrence. Your contract, therefore, has been set up well, and you are in the middle of it. Additionally, like so many like you, you have a divine interest in yourselves! You feel part of the spiritual family. What a dichotomy indeed, to be judged as evil by those who are the high spiritual leaders--interpreting God for today's culture.
Now I say this: What is your intent? Is it to walk with love for all those around you and become an enlightened Human Being in this New Age? Is it to forgive those who see you as a spiritual blight on society? Can you have the kind of tolerance for them that they seem not to have for you? Can you overlook the fact that they freely quote their scriptures in order to condemn you, yet they don't seem to have the love tolerance that is the cornerstone of their own message?
If the answer is yes, then there is nothing else you must do. Your INTENT is everything, and your life will be honored with peace over those who would cause unrest, and tolerance for the intolerable. Your sexual attributes are simply chemistry and setups within your DNA. They are given by agreement as gifts for you to experience in this life. Look on them in this fashion, and be comfortable with that fact that you are a perfect spiritual creation under God--loved beyond measure--just like all humans. But then you know that, don't you?
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