by Tony Rucinski, Coalition for Marriage
As many of you know, I travel the country running courses to strengthen marriages. At an event this past weekend, I was asked if the marriage debate is over. It isn’t. Here’s why.
In America, Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk jailed for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licences in 2015, has again challenged the Supreme Court’s Obergefell ruling. Her petition calls the decision “egregiously wrong” and a “legal fiction”, urging the Court to overturn it. Her case highlights how quickly the redefinition of marriage collides with freedom of conscience.
This petition is part of a wider push across US states to reassert that marriage should be defined by law as the union of one man and one woman. Even if the Court declines to hear it, the very fact that Obergefell is under formal challenge shows that the debate is far from finished.
And closer to home, it’s important to remember that same-sex marriage in the UK had no democratic mandate. Senior Conservatives themselves said it was not in their party’s manifesto and that there was ‘no mandate’ for it. Civil partnerships already existed, offering broadly the same legal rights and responsibilities as marriage – see the Government’s website.