Queer Bedfellows

‘POLITICS, as we said, makes strange bedfellows and it’s not often you find Peter Tatchell and the Telegraph snuggled up together under the same duvet.

And the bride wore a tuxedo, much like the groom…

But the paper happily reports that the Government’s proposals to extend to gay couples the same legal rights as those enjoyed by married couples has been attacked – by gays.

Peter Tatchell claimed it was discriminatory against unmarried heterosexual couples.

‘It is divisive, heterophobic and discriminatory to exclude unmarried heterosexual couples. It is a grave injustice.’

The Government claims that unmarried heterosexual couples can qualify for things like pension rights simply by getting married.

But opponents say that people should not be forced to get married to qualify for the additional legal protection.

Former equality minister Barbara Roche, the woman who steered the proposals through Government, says same-sex relationships will now be part of the very fabric of society.

‘It’s a sign of a society which has modernised,’ she told the Guardian, ‘it’s come of age and it recognises that there are very, very many different and very, very valid ways in which people live their lives.’

Except of course heterosexual couples deciding to live together without getting married.

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Posted: 30th, June 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink