Caroline Dinenage wrote to constitutents voicing her opposition to equal marriage
David Cameron’s cabinet reshuffle continues today, with the appointment of Caroline Dinenage to the post of minister for equalities. Dinenage retained her Gosport seat in the election, and is part of Cameron’s new drive to increase the number of women at the Cabinet table.
But a look at Dinenage’s voting record raises questions about her suitability for the job.
In 2013 she voted against the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill at its Second Reading in the House of Commons. She voted for other components of the bill in order to stay loyal to the Tory party line, and was absent for the Bill’s Third Reading.
But there is no ambiguity in Dinenage’s comments on the issue. Responding to a letter from a PinkNews reader the day before the reading, she wrote:
“As you may know, as the established Church, its own Canon Law is part of the law of the land and one of its canons states that marriage is in its nature a union of “one man and one woman”.
I therefore believe that the institution of marriage is distinctive and the State has no right to redefine its meaning – these proposals were not included in any of the three main manifestoes nor did it feature in the Coalition’s Programme for Government.
“As I have mentioned, under current law same-sex couples can have a civil partnership but not a civil marriage and I believe that there is no legitimate reason to change this. Preventing same-sex couples from being allowed to ‘marry’ takes nothing away from their relationship.”
She also told a local newspaper:
‘I’m concerned that in the future teachers may be forced to teach civil partnership and gay marriage whether it’s in their religious belief to do so or not.”
Further back, in 2011, Dinenage was listed by the Daily Mail as one of 118 Tory MPs who had written to constituents stating their opposition to proposals to allow gay marriage. The Mail reported at the time:
“The sheer scale of the opposition means Mr Cameron is facing what has become the biggest Tory rebellion in recent history.”
The list included Cameron’s former equalities minister Nicky Morgan, who also voted against gay marriage.
Is there something the PM isn’t quite getting?
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
107 Responses to “‘No legitimate reason’ for same-sex marriage: meet the new equalities minister”
steroflex
So why does Mr Cameron have to make the decision to appoint someone or to allow it in the first place? Aren’t you confusing friendship and marriage – different.
steroflex
Equality has absolutely nothing to do with it. If two men (David and Jonathan, Socrates and Alcibiades) want to be friends, that is splendid. If a man and a woman want to get married that is splendid too.
I want to ask you to explain how equality has anything to do with it?
Ben Gimson
I have to explain? If a man can’t marry a man, and a woman can’t marry a woman, but a man and woman can marry just fine, that is not equal. That’s not my opinion, that’s fact.
Janet T-Tremaine
I don’t think what happens in other countries has anything to do with this country; let them get on with it as they see fit. But for this country, I think marriage by defiition is between a man and a woman as it was originally intended and the sooner we have our own Bill of Rights, the better..
Janet T-Tremaine
Couldn’t have said it better, Mike. I agree with your sentiments about it being natural for women to marry men. It is also natural that a large majority of women feel that they want to be at home and be nurturing of the children and then the grandchildren when they come along. It is what happens in the greater scheme of things i.e. Life. However, to a large extent women also feel pressured “to have it all” and when they find it extremely difficult to do so, it often ends in tears, exhaustion, bad vibes in the home, frazzled nerves and the whole family suffers. That’s not to say that women cannot live productive lives e.g. running a business from home (many options for creative crafts, research, authors, etc), but always being there when the kids come back from school. This is the most important developmental period in the lives of the children, when supervision of homework, listening to children’s stories of what happened at school, the interaction with classmates and teachers and giving a good grounding in manners, culture, discipline and routine – the guidelines that are missing from the lives of so many of the younger generation – with the resultant social problems evident such as bad school results, lack of manners and poor social skills. Later on, once the children have gone to university or have established themselves independently, the homemaker will have more time and can progress her own career (if she wants to do that) or retrain in another interest altogether and be able to put something back into the community. It is for each couple to agree how they will share responsibility for their married life – ALL aspects of it, including how they will bring up their children before these little people are born. Having a plan, works better than trying to muddle your way through it all. Enough said…..!!!