Warsi leads fight against gay marriages

LONDON: Baroness Sayeeda Warsi has warned her own government that controversial gay marriage legislation could have a string of “unintended consequences” if concerns of various faith communities, including Muslims, were not taken into consideration before passing the legislation. Warsi, the senior Foreign Office and Faith and Communities Minister, became the highest government minister to have broken ranks from the government line.
If gay marriages are legalised then Britain’s more than 1,500 mosques could face serious issues as they will be required to allow gay marriages inside the mosques and anyone refusing to do so will face prosecution and legal challenge. Also, faith schools could be required under law to teach children about same sex marriages and this could be made essential part of the curriculum.
Faith communities, including Muslims, Jews and Christians, have expressed their concern over support for the same sex marriage legislation. Writing to Culture Secretary Maria Miller, who unveiled the planned legislation this week, Warsi demanded “clarity” on how the new law will properly “protect religious freedom” and asked: “What legal support will be afforded to churches and other places of worship if they’re challenged individually or as an organisation?”
Lady Warsi, in her leaked letter originally published in the Mail, asks: “What consideration has been given to the teaching of equal marriage in schools, both faith schools and non-faith schools?,” she asks in the letter. Warsi copied her letter to Education Secretary Michael Gove, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, Attorney General Dominic Grieve and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
Lady Warsi tells Maria Miller in the letter that as minister for faith she has received a “large volume of calls in relation to this matter” from groups seeking assurance “about a number of aspects of the policy”.
The Education Department has repeatedly insisted that teachers will still be able to refuse to teach anything considered inappropriate to the religious or cultural backgrounds of their pupils but it is believed that gay rights groups will campaign against this and will hold it up as discrimination against them.
Under government plans unveiled on Tuesday, religious same-sex marriages will be allowed in civil venues and places of worship that want to opt in but Warsi has called for more safeguards and clarities.
Warsi’s concerns are that religious leaders, including mosque imams, could come under pressure and may be sued for refusing to administer same sex marriages. The issue of same sex marriages has divided opinion in UK sharply. While liberals support legislation allowing the marriages between gays and lesbians, faith communities and right-wing papers have spoken against legislation on the grounds that the law will lead to erosion of traditional Christian values and will affect other faiths, as well as institution of marriage which advocates marriages only between heterosexuals.