 | |
| Founded | 2012 |
|---|---|
| Type | Campaign organisation |
Area served | United Kingdom |
| Website | http://c4m.org.uk/ |
The Coalition for Marriage, often abbreviated to C4M, [1] is a Christian [2] campaign group in the United Kingdom that opposes same-sex marriage. Founded in February 2012, [1] the Coalition for Marriage is the main campaign group against same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom.
The Christian Institute, an evangelical Christian advocacy group, announced the formation of C4M on 20 February 2012. Its mission was to rally opposition to legalizing same-sex marriage. [1] Its principal initiative was a petition against allowing civil marriage for same-sex couples. Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, endorsed its efforts. [1]
The Coalition for Marriage is a not-for-profit public limited company [3] whose directors have links to high-profile conservative Christian groups. [4] C4M director Colin Hart is director of the Christian Institute. [4] C4M director Nola Leach is head of the pro-life organization Christian Action Research and Education (CARE). [4] C4M director Donald Horrocks is the head of public affairs for the Evangelical Alliance. [5] C4M director Andrea Minichiello Williams, a barrister, is a founder of pressure group Christian Concern and CEO of the Christian Legal Centre. [4]
The coalition also shares the same address as the Christian Medical Fellowship, a pro-life group. [6]
C4M's petition campaign has gathered over 650,000 signatures. [7] Some notable public figures, including politicians from the Conservative and Labour parties, lawyers, academics and religious leaders, have signed, including Lord Chancellor Lord Mackay of Clashfern, Professor Brenda Almond, President of the Philosophical Society of England, and Fiona Bruce MP, all of whose participation was announced as part of the launch of the petition drive. [1] The petition says: "I support the legal definition of marriage which is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. I oppose any attempt to redefine it." [2]
In March 2012, the Women's Institute declined to carry C4M's advertising on behalf of its petition campaign in its magazine, WI Life, which is delivered to its 210,000 members. Its advertising manager Helen Evans wrote to C4M that "We are a national campaigning charity and your campaign doesn't fit with any of our resolutions first and foremost. ... We do also welcome all women to the WI and this campaign could offend many of our members." [8]
On 8 April 2012, the LGBT news service, Pink News , claimed the Coalition for Marriage's petition allowed multiple signatures from the same person, using the same address, and did not verify whether the person is based in the United Kingdom or the validity of the email address used. [9] They also reported that the Advertising Standards Authority was investigating the group for an advert which claimed 70% of people opposed same-sex marriage, after accusations the claim was "misleading". [10] Later that month, Pink News reported that C4M's petition campaign falsely stated that the sign-up age was 16. It pointed to a presentation by the Catholic Education Service to Catholic school students as young as 11 in South London that encouraged them to do their duty to do "all we can to ensure that the true meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations" and sign the C4M petition. [11]
Three MPs, Sarah Newton, Anne Milton and Dan Byles, complained to C4M that their photos had been used on petition campaign material without their permission. The leaflets in question called the proposed legislation "undemocratic", warned of people being punished for "believing in traditional marriage", and said that many gay people oppose "redefining marriage". [12] Newton complained that constituents had contacted her in a distressed manner over the language used and that they were being led to believe she endorsed the coalition's opinions. Milton explained that she had contacted the Coalition for Marriage twice [12] and requested they stop, but that they had continued doing so. [13] Dan Byles said that constituent comments about the leaflets demonstrated that "they are very open to misrepresentation." A spokesman for the Coalition responded that it was standard practice to use photographs of MPs on campaign literature and only three MPs of the 650 had complained. [12]
In a poll commissioned by C4M and conducted by ComRes in 16–25 January 2013, 62 percent of black and minority ethnic (BME) voters opposed same-sex marriage; 49 percent believed that changing the law would lead to those who oppose same-sex marriage being persecuted at work for their views. The figure for Asian people was 57 percent. [14] Another poll conducted by C4M in April 2013 reported that 67 percent of UK Christians feel that they are part of a "persecuted minority". [15] The C4M repeatedly stated that many LGBT people opposed the bill, but failed to offer evidence, while Pink News's January 2013 poll found 98% of their readership support having equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians. [16]
The Coalition for Marriage have been widely acknowledged by the British media to be the leading campaign group against same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom. The Daily Telegraph said C4M "orchestrated" opposition to the bill. [17]
The Coalition for Marriage reported the concerns of 121 Conservative Party MPs who said to their constituents that they were uncomfortable with the same-sex marriage proposals. C4M used their correspondence to support its argument that the "issue has never been put before the British public and increasingly MPs realise that it is simply undemocratic to force this through." [18] Conor Burns, close friend of the late Margaret Thatcher, was among the high profile supporters of the C4M cause. [18] However, he later voted in favour of the bill. [19]
When the same-sex marriage legislation received royal assent on 17 July 2013, C4M told Metro that it would "come back to bite" the prime minister. Chairman Colin Hart said: "Mr Cameron needs to remember that the Coalition for Marriage has nearly 700,000 supporters, nearly six times the number of members of the Conservative party." [20]
Following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in July 2013, [21] the Coalition for Marriage announced plans to employ its database of around 700,000 supporters to campaign in the 2014 European Parliament elections and the general election of 2015. [22]
In the 2015 general election, the organisation delivered leaflets for and against former MPs based on their record on the issue of same-sex marriage. [23] Candidates targeted for voting for the act included Nick Clegg, Sarah Wollaston, Julian Huppert, Anna Soubry, Caroline Lucas, Ed Balls, Jenny Chapman and Simon Kirby. Leaflets highlighting opposition were distributed in the seats of Jacob Rees-Mogg, Roger Godsiff and Craig Whittaker.
Peter Gary Tatchell is an Australian-born British human rights campaigner, best known for his work with LGBTQI+ social movements.
Sir Simon Henry Ward Hughes is a British former politician. He is now the Chancellor of London South Bank University, an external adviser to The Open University, and a strategic adviser to Talgo, a Spanish manufacturer of trains. Hughes was deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2010 to 2014, and from 2013 until 2015 was Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Bermondsey and Old Southwark from 1983 until 2015. He declined a position in the House of Lords in 2015.
Stonewall Equality Limited, trading as Stonewall, is a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights charity in the United Kingdom. It is the largest LGBT rights organisation in Europe.
Same-sex marriage is legal in all parts of the United Kingdom. As marriage is a devolved legislative matter, different parts of the United Kingdom legalised at different times; it has been recognised and performed in England and Wales since March 2014, in Scotland since December 2014, and in Northern Ireland since January 2020. Civil partnerships, which offer most, but not all, of the rights and benefits of marriage, have been recognised since 2005.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Finland are among the most advanced in Europe. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity have been legal in Finland since 1971 with "promotion" thereof decriminalized and the age of consent equalized in 1999. Homosexuality was declassified as an illness in 1981. Discrimination based on sexual orientation in areas such as employment, the provision of goods and services, etc., was criminalized in 1995 and discrimination based on gender identity in 2005.
PinkNews is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, non-heterosexual, non-cisgender, queer, and questioning-sexuality-and-gender community (LGBTQ+) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in July 2005.
Alexander Alan Craig is a British politician of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), who previously served as leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance (CPA) from 2004 to 2012. He stood as a candidate for Mayor of London in 2008 and was a councillor in Newham for eight years. He served as UKIP's spokesperson for families and children from 2018 to around 2019.
The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) is a conservative right-wing Christian advocacy organisation based in Canberra.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) rights in Northern Ireland have traditionally been slower to advance than the rest of the United Kingdom, with the region having lagged behind England, Scotland, and Wales. Northern Ireland was the last part of the United Kingdom where same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised, the last to implement a blood donation “monogamous no waiting period” policy system for men who have sex with men and, after intervention by the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the last to allow same-sex marriage. Compared to the neighbouring Republic of Ireland, all major LGBT rights milestones had been reached earlier in Northern Ireland, with the exception of same-sex marriage. Homosexuality was decriminalised in Northern Ireland a decade earlier and civil partnerships were introduced six years earlier.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Scotland since 16 December 2014. As family law is not reserved to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the Scottish Parliament has legislative competence to make changes to the law on marriage. A same-sex marriage law was approved by the Scottish Parliament in February 2014 and received royal assent on 12 March 2014. It came into effect on 16 December with many civil partners converting their relationships into marriages, while the first same-sex marriage ceremonies occurred on 31 December 2014. Civil partnerships for same-sex couples have been legal in Scotland since 2005.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in Northern Ireland since 13 January 2020, following the enactment of the Northern Ireland Act 2019. The first marriage ceremony took place on 11 February 2020. Civil partnerships have also been available for same-sex couples in Northern Ireland since their introduction by the Government of the United Kingdom in 2005.
Australian Marriage Equality (AME) was an advocacy group driven by volunteers who came together to pursue the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Australia. AME partnered with a diverse range of organisations and supporters across the country to end the exclusion of same-sex LGBTIQ couples from marriage in Australia. It was the pre-eminent group campaigning for same-sex marriage in Australia.
LGBT conservatism refers to LGBT individuals with conservative political views. It is an umbrella term used for what is bifurcated into two specific sub-categories, each with its own term and meaning. The first sub-categorical term, Pre-Stonewall LGBT Conservatism, refers to LGBT individuals embracing and promoting the ideology of a traditional conservatism in either a general or specifically-LGBT social context or environment. The second sub-categorical term, Post-Stonewall LGBT Conservatism, refers to self-affirming LGBT persons with fiscally, culturally, and politically conservative views. These post-Stonewall conservatives' social views, though generally conservative too, at the same time reflect a self-determination-stemmed and more recent socio-historical "gay-affirmation" on issues like marriage equality for same-sex couples, gay family recognition, civic equality generally for LGBT people in society, and also a positive role for (gay-affirming) religion in LGBT life, though there is not complete unanimity of opinion among them on all issues, especially those regarding the dynamics and politics of the closet and "identity management," and various legal and political issues The first term can include LGBT people who are actually opposed to same-sex marriage or other LGBTQ rights while the second term, contrastingly, usually refers to self-affirming gay people who unequivocally favor marriage as a legal institution for both heterosexuals and gays and who simultaneously prefer economic and political conservatism more generally. The number of self-affirming LGBT advocates for conservative ideas and policies became more apparent only after the advent of the modern LGBT civil rights movement in the 1970s even as many gay conservatives, labelled as "self-hating" at the time, did remain closeted in areas where anti-gay socially conservative politicians then led the most organized opposition to LGBT rights. The Realpolitik and ideology situations for LGBT conservatives today vary by their own self-definition, and each country's sociopolitical, cultural, and legal LGBT rights landscape.
Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE) is a social policy charity based in the United Kingdom, with offices in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The Coalition for Equal Marriage is a British campaign group created in 2012 by Conor Marron and James Lattimore, a same-sex couple, to petition in support of civil marriages for gay couples. The Coalition for Equal Marriage was created in response to the Coalition for Marriage, a Christian group campaigning against same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom.
The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Act 2014 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which allows same-sex couples to marry in Scotland since 16 December 2014.
The history of same-sex marriage in Australia includes its express prohibition by the Howard government in 2004 and its eventual legalisation by the Parliament in December 2017. Although a same-sex marriage law was passed by the Australian Capital Territory in 2013, it was struck down by the High Court on the basis of inconsistency with federal law. The Court's decision closed the possibility of concurrent state or territory laws that would allow same-sex marriage where federal law did not. A law legalising same-sex marriage passed the Parliament on 7 December 2017 and received royal assent the following day.
The suicide of Tyrone Unsworth occurred on 22 November 2016, in Brisbane, Australia. Unsworth, a 13-year-old boy, died by suicide after years of bullying motivated by his homosexuality. His death garnered considerable national attention in Australia, as well as international attention.
The LGB Alliance is a British nonprofit advocacy group founded in 2019, in opposition to the policies of LGBT rights charity Stonewall on transgender issues. Its founders are Bev Jackson, Kate Harris, Allison Bailey, Malcolm Clark and Ann Sinnott. The organization has said that lesbians are facing "extinction" because of the "disproportionate" focus on transgender identities in schools.