Jul 9 2012
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CAMPAIGNERS seeking legalised same-sex marriage staged a mock wedding outside Holyrood today as they pressed the Scottish Government to back the proposal.
The event, which is the latest in a series of rallies and protests for or against gay marriage, was attended by about 150 people.
Jaye and Ruth, a Christian couple from Glasgow who have been together for three years, were "married" in a ceremony conducted by Rev Jane Clarke of the Metropolitan Community Church.
Afterwards, protestors handed in a 10,000-signature petition to MSPs and letter to the First Minister. The Equality Network, which organised the event, said most people in Scotland supported legalising gay marriage.
Rev Clarke, said: "My Church, like many others, wants the right to conduct same-sex marriages. For us this is an issue of equality and religious freedom.
"Religious bodies should have the right to conduct same-sex marriages if they want to, and we trust the Scottish Government will respect our religious freedoms too."
The event comes as the Government prepares to publish the results of its consultation on the issue. Currently, the law in Scotland allows civil partnerships between couples of the same sex.
Proposals to legalise gay marriage resulted in the biggest response to any Government consultation, and ignited a debate between gay rights supporters and the Catholic Church.
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, the most senior Catholic in Scotland, has already said that bishops will drum up funds on a so-called Support Marriage Sunday earmarked for August 26.
"We will use this opportunity to remind Catholics of the importance of marriage as a union of a man and a woman and to urge them to be generous in contributing to a special collection which will be used to support initiatives in defence of marriage,"' he told the Sunday Times.
Tom French, policy co-ordinator of the Equality Network, said: "For the Catholic Church to spend another ?100,000 fighting LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) equality in its self-declared war on gay marriage seems to be an aggressive, undemocratic and un-Christian thing to do."
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The consultation on same-sex marriage and registration of civil partnerships has closed and we are now analysing the responses and considering what next steps to take.
"As was made clear when the consultation was launched, while we have expressed our initial view we have given an assurance that all opinions will be listened to, no final views have been reached and therefore no decisions have been taken."'
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