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Loading ...UK PM blasts Prop 8
03.06.2009 2:05pm EST
(London) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has blasted the California law banning same-sex marriage. Brown called Proposition 8, as it is known, “unacceptable” and said it was a setback for civil rights in the United States.
Brown made the comments during a speech to British gay rights leaders during a reception at the Prime Minister’s official Residence 10 Downing Street the British Broadcasting Corporations reports.“This attempt to undo good that has been done is unacceptable,” Brown said. “This shows why we have always got to be vigilant, always got to fight homophobic behavior and any form of discrimination.”
The Prime Minister praised UK gay leaders for pushing to have civil partnerships legalized in 2005, giving same-sex couples all of the rights of marriage except the name.
He praised the rights leaders for “changing opinion” about same-sex unions.
“You have shown how the legislative process, by your pressure, can respond,” he told the group.
Last May the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage. Some 18,000 gay and lesbian couples married before voters by a slim 52 percent approved Proposition 8.
Brown’s comments came only hours after the California high court heard arguments challenging the legality of the proposition. It could be up to 90 days before a ruling is made in the case.
Having lived in Canada (my home country) and the US for a number of wonderful years (San Diego); makes me an expert in nothing. But it must be remembered that the US has always been seen as the gold standard for civil rights over the last several decades. So , when the California judiciary interpreted the (state) consitution to include same sex couples as being eligible for legal ‘marriage’; only to (possibly?) have that right taken away by popular vote ; it was an unsettling move to many outside the US of A.
Feeling the need to chip in here and comment towards posters who are declaring how Britain doesn’t have gay ‘marriage’ and therefore Gordon Brown has no right to mention Prop 8. Scotland, Northern Ireland, England and Wales actually have different registration legislation for marriage. By having Civil Partnerships actually puts all gay ‘marriages’ the country over on an equal footing (time constraints etc.). Also, they’re looking to change the terminology in Scotland to marriage. Either way, under a Catholic Prime Minister (Blair), passed an Act that has given me the same rights as my parents, honestly, i don’t care about the particular wording.
Go Gordon Brown! Now, legalize same-sex marriage in the UK.
If Prime Minister Gordon Brown feels that the passage of Prop 8 in the United States is “unacceptable” and a set back for civil rights, then should it not follow that he should seek to change the “civil partnership” classification in Great Britain to “marriage”? Having a “separate but equal” definition for a union between two gay people only serves to reinforce the reality that it is really not a marriage, it has not earned the title of marriage because it is between two men or two women!
You have missed the point. The civil Unions in the UK have all the same rights as a marriage,including Immigration, that is why, he can speak. they just dont call it marriage. The USA civil unions dont have all of the same rights as the UK. Hence English gays & Lesbians arent fighting, because they have got it all. Please do research before you go overboard!!
Only a matter of time folks before Great Britian shifts over to marriage. Then the poor religious breeders will have to move to Iran or California! LOL! Still say we should’ve stayed part England.
Michael! Yes you are right! The UK does not have same-sex marriage…. Maybe he should deal with his own country before he travel across the atlantic to teach americans about civil rights!!
Brown’s point is you can’t take a “fundamental right” back once you’ve given it away. Since Britain has never legalized same-sex marriage in the first place, the issue is moot.
But gays and lesbians in the United States have used the same argument in differentiating Prop. 8 from anti-gay amendments in 30 other states. It is a salient argument. It is much, much worse when you force 18,000 couples to divorce after you’ve guaranteed their right to marry. What’s going on in California is unfair, wrong, and downright uncivilized.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the UK doesn’t have gay marriages, only civil unions, like Vermont. So why is everyone cheering for the PM?
I believe that PM Brown has put himself in an awkward spot by saying that. On the one hand it shows that PM Brown has no problem with the gay community, however on the other hand he is a representative of a head of state and that could be looked at as him meddling in the domestic affairs of another country. I believe that this would create a bit of a foreign affairs blunder for him. In other words is he making fun of the American people and belittling the progress that we have to overcome from within? It is a struggle for us here in the US but it is also important to remember that we are also fighting for the word marriage which in Britain seems that there is no opposition to that.
Hip, Hip, Hooray!!!
I wish Prime Minister Brown could have made his statement BEFORE the people in California voted for Prop. 8!
Well duh it is a set back to civil rights. And thank you mister prime minister for pointing that out to us, maybe some people will finally take notice and believe it.
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AND WHERE ARE OUR LEADERS???????????? ANYBODY !!!??????????????
THATS BECAUSE BRITAIN DOESN T HAVE THE CHRISTIAN CRAZIES !!WE VE GOT EM ALL HERE !! GO GORDON !!HEY OBAMA -HOW ABOUT YOU !!!!!!!???????????????????????
GO Great Britian!! If only we had stayed part of the British Empire!