The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill passed its first hurdle in the House of Lords on June 4 with the bill being supported by peers with 390 votes to 148; opponents have vowed that ‘it’s not over yet’.
Lord Dear led the opposition to the Bill in the Lords. He said the legislation would: ‘Completely alter the concept of marriage as we know it’. He believed the bill was ‘ill-thought through’, had no democratic legitimacy and was ‘fatally flawed’. Government minister Baroness Warsi refused to back the bill saying that she had misgivings about its impact on faith groups.
There will be other votes in the Lords in the coming weeks where peers have the opportunity to pass key amendments, or vote against the whole bill. Many peers have apparently voted for the bill in order to take a closer look at it and pass amendments.
