Catholic MP’s Back Gay Marriage

It’s now well known that in the USA, Catholic opinion has departed from the lead of the bishops on gay marriage: Catholics in general are more likely than other Christians, and as least as likely as the general population, to support equality, and in many of the states which have legislated for same- sex marriage, Catholic politicians have been prominent in the struggle. Does the same principle apply in the UK?

Gay marriage supporters, outside parliament

This came to me by email, from my friend and colleague, Martin Pendergast:

This weekend’s Tablet notes that ‘a majority of Catholic MPs voted in favour of allowing same sex marriage …… Out of at least 82 Catholic MPs, 47 – almost 60% voted in favour …… 32 Labour, 12 Conservative, 2 Lib. Dems, 1 SDLP. Sadly, some of those with previously positive LGBT-friendly voting track-records didn’t: Stephen Pound, Paul Goggins, Sarah Teather, of course, indicated obliquely the way she was going to vote in her recent Tablet interview.

This set me digging. A column in the Guardian Politics Live blog on the day of the vote, identified all MP’s and how they voted. Comparing a list of identified Catholic Members of Parliament and the voting records reported in the Guardian, I was able to confirm that 47 voted in favour (names listed below), with 27 against, 7 did not vote or votes were not listed and 2 were no longer members of parliament.

It was to be expected that Labour MP’s Catholic MPs would mostly vote in favour, but it’s the Conservative supporters that I found most interesting. Included in their number, were some that for different reasons, are particularly notable:

Ian Duncan – Smith, as Secretary for Works and Pensions, is probably the best known of the senior Conservative Party caucus identified as Catholic. In the early run-up to the introduction of the bill, it was widely speculated that he would vote against. He voted in favour.

Damian Collins MP called on the example of St Thomas More , pointing out that while parliament had the authority to pass laws on matters of marriage, it could not force Catholics to agree with them. The Equal Marriage Bill meets that standard – it provides for same – sex marriage, but does not force cimpliance on anybody.

‘I will be supporting the Same Sex Marriage Bill because I believe in a society where people have freedom of religious expression, but also one where outside of religion people are equal in the eyes of the law. But as an MP of Roman Catholic faith, I have been drawn to considering over the last few weeks, what Thomas More would have made of this issue.

Saint Thomas More, Henry VIII’s Lord Chancellor and a former speaker of the House of Commons is famous for the moral stand he took against his King, even though it cost him his life. It was learning about his example at school which prompted me to choose him as my Confirmation Saint. Thomas More is particularly remembered because he could not in conscience swear an oath recognising the Succession to the Crown Act 1533 which had the effect of annulling one of Henry VIII’s marriages and therefore changing the royal succession. He could not swear the oath because, although he would abide by the Act’s content, he could not in conscience say that he agreed with it. Parliament, he said, had the right to decide matters of marriage, and had the right to require all subjects, including Catholics, to abide by its laws, but it could not have the right to require Catholics in conscience to agree with them. As a result he was imprisoned in the Tower of London and then executed.

The Same Sex Marriage Bill is not seeking to tell the different churches and religions what they should believe, or to restrict them practicing their beliefs as the do now.

Conor Burns, the openly gay MP for Bournemouth West had at one time expressed his doubts about the need for this bill, as he believed the present civil partnership arrangements provided adequately for our needs. But shortly before the vote was taken, he spoke of some particularly unpleasant statements in lobbying emails from constituents opposed to the bill, and indicated that he was likely to vote in favour. As a gay man, he said, he could hardly vote against equality:

He told the Bournemouth Echo “The lobbying that has been undertaken by those against this bill has been some of the most unpleasant spiteful, hateful things that I’ve ever known,” he said.

“Some of my constituents have written in opposing it. I don’t know what sort of relationship they have with their God but he’s not the God of compassion that I recognise. They’ve been hateful.

“They talk about homosexuality being a disease that will lead to destruction of the human race and gays swirling around in a cesspool of their own making.”

He said he did not think there was a clamour for the gay marriage proposal but added: “That said, it’s being presented as bringing greater equality and as a gay man I don’t see how I can vote against something that’s presented as bringing greater equality.”

- Pink News

I would add, that it’s not only as a gay man that one should support equality – but also as a Catholic.

It’s unfortunate that debates around equal marriage are so seen as a tussle between secular, liberal principles of equality, against religious belief. They are not in opposition. The equality argument is a religious one. When Jesus first spoke in the temple, the text he chose, was about “setting the downtrodden free” – a principle that he demonstrated throughout his ministry. As a South African, educated in Catholic schools, living for over 50 years against a background of the struggle against apartheid, this principle of justice part of what Catholicism and Christianity are all about. St Paul says that in Christ, there is neither male nor female, neither slave nor free. And nor should we be making distinctions based on gender or affectional orientation.

As Daniel Kawczynski MP wrote in an article in the Shrewsbury Chronicle ( Thursday, February 7, 2013), entitled ’Why I voted in support of gay marriage ‘:

” Jesus says: ” Therefore all things whatsoever would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”

I’ve concentrated here on the Tory MP’s voting in favour, but here’s one Catholic Labour MP, who’s gone on the record as saying that he supports Equal Marriage because he’s a Catholic, and not in spite of his faith:

On learning that I am in favour of same-sex marriage, one of my local Catholic priests wrote to me recently saying that he would pray for me. Another local priest expressed his disappointment in me by adding that he had hoped that my Catholic background “would have prompted a more thoughtful response and decision”.

As someone who still regards themselves as a Catholic, whose children are being educated at Catholic school, I have no objection to being prayed for. Indeed I welcome it. We all need praying for. But I thought the suggestion that my support for equal marriage was somehow contradictory to my Catholic upbringing was rather odd.

I don’t go to Mass every week and it’s been a while since I did R.E at school. But I have yet to see anything in the Gospels where Christ voiced his opposition to same-sex marriage. I don’t, for example, recall that after Jesus had turned water into wine at the Wedding at Cana, Our Lord then went on to tell the guests at the celebration that he would not have been so hospitable had the marriage involved two people of the same gender.

I was always told that Jesus taught us compassion, understanding and to treat others as we wished to be treated ourselves. I am married – so why shouldn’t two gay people similarly be allowed to get married? At weddings, we often quote from St Paul’s famous first letter to the Corinthians where he told us to abide by three things: faith, hope and love, “but the greatest of these is love”. When the Commons votes today, I will be voting in favour of equal marriage because why shouldn’t two people, who love each other and who want to make a long-term commitment to one another, be able to get married, regardless of their sexuality?

- Michael Dugher, Labour MP

(continue reading at Speaker’s Chair)

Here’s the list of identified Catholic MP’s who voted in favour of Equal Marriage:

Conor	Burns	Con	Bournemouth West
Damian	Collins	Con	Folkestone and Hythe
Ian	Duncan Smith	Con	Chingford and W Green
Jane	Ellison	Con	Battersea
Damian	Green	Con	Ashford
Ben	Gummer	Con	Ipswich
Mark	Harper	Con	Forest of Dean
Damian	Hinds	Con	East Hampshire
Daniel	Kawczynski	Con	Shrewsbury and Atcham
Patrick	McLoughlin	Con	Derbyshire Dales
Mark	Menzies	Con	Fylde
Eric	Ollerenshaw	Con	Lancaster and Fleetwood
Charles	Walker	Con	Broxbourne
Christopher	White	Con	Warwick and Leamington
Kevin	Brennan	Lab	Cardiff West
Andy	Burnham	Lab	Leigh
Mary	Creagh	Lab	Wakefield
Jon	Cruddas	Lab	Dagenham
Jim	Cunningham	Lab	Coventry South
Margaret	Curran	Lab	Glasgow East
Simon	Danczuk	Lab	Rochdale
Gloria	De Piero	Lab	Ashfield
Thomas	Docherty	Lab	Dunfernline and W Fyfe
Gemma	Doyle	Lab	West Dunbartonshire
Jack	Dromey	Lab	Birmingham Erdington
Michael	Dugher	Lab	Barnsley E
Paul	Farrelly	Lab	Newcastle under Lyme
Stephen	Hepburn	Lab	Jarrow
Meg	Hillier	Lab	Hackney South and Shoreditch
Huw	Irranca – Davies	Lab	Ogmore
Helen	Jones	Lab	Warringron North
Barbara	Keeley	Lab	Worsley
Siobhan	McDonagh	Lab	Mitcham and Morden
Pat	McFadden	Lab	Wolverhampton South East
Anne	McGuire	Lab	Stirling
Ann	McKechin	Lab	Glasgow North
Catherine	McKinnell	Lab	Newcastle North
Jim	Murphy	Lab	East Renfrewshire
Pamela	Nash	Lab	Airdrie and Shotts
Theresa	Pearce	Lab	Erith and Thamesmead
Bridget	Phillipson	Lab	Houghton and Sunderland South
Chris	Ruane	Lab	Vale of Clwyd
Gerry	Sutcliffe	Lab	Bradford South
Keith	Vaz	Lab	Leicester East
Valerie	Vaz	Lab	Walsall South
Mike	Hancock	LD	Portsmouth South
Mark	Durkan	SDLP	Foyle