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”
Storbritannien_Dansker
How does this impact your life? Civil Same-Sex Marriage has no impact on your place of worship, and should not place any impact on your marriage.
Storbritannien_Dansker
As the years proceed with Marriage Equality we will see how little impact this will bear on opposite-sex marriages. I believe that this has been one of the few positive outcomes of the last Parliament.
Mike Stallard
Well it does actually.
I believe, based on what ordinary people do not say – ever – but what is inscribed on their faces, that gay people are not popular at all. Certainly Primary School children use the term over here as an insult.
If we see a lot of very unpopular people doing something – rioting in the street, for instance, we tend to despise the cause for which they are rioting. If we see very unpopular gay people (you may dispute this) getting married, that will drive my own (and indeed every wife/husband’s) marriage into disrepute too.
There is no argument that for Catholics and Muslims, sodomy is a sin. Dressing it up as marriage is simply not possible for us. So my own religion is threatened at the same time.
Storbritannien_Dansker
Well then your beliefs are fragile and flawed. If your marriage is threatened by civil marriage contracts you’re life has greater problems than same-sex marriage.
I’m very liberal. This might surprise you, but I have some friends that are Catholics! I don’t mind your lifestyle choices, but I would not want my children to hang out with those older men that wear dresses. I know that every one of them would want to molest our children. You can understand, Janet, that I would not want my children to be recruited. I understand that religious beliefs are a choice that you made, and I do hope that uphold every abomination.
I know that you feel like a victim with your choices are firmly a minority. We respect your lifestyle, but we are just tired of having you shoving your choices down our throats, and acting like you are victims because of your beastiality, orgies, divorces, and paedophilia. Surveys have shown that people are overwhelmingly supportive of Marriages for all. I am sure that there is some Catholic guy for you, Janet. I don’t believe in Marriages for Catholics.
Storbritannien_Dansker
You would not believe how many Catholics that I met that are mentally ill! It’s probably that Napoleonic Complex, and did they touch you while you were using that beaded necklace? I’m so sorry. I’m Buddhist. All of those crazy drag queens making you eat those round things. Are they drugs?