Report on Same-Sex Marriages [Part 4] - Graham Wood

‘POLICY EXCHANGE’ REPORT - SAME SEX MARRIAGE.

AN OPEN LETTER TO COALITION MPs.

Re-defining Marriage – Complex and Expensive. [Part 4]

Apart from a casual reference in the report’s conclusion – “The law is relatively easy and inexpensive to change in this area”, the economic and administrative changes required for homosexual "marriage" are ignored by Policy Exchange, perhaps for obvious reasons to do with some real political and economic implications. But many others reach an entirely different conclusion for, as Peter Saunders of the Christian Medical Fellowship points out, “Redefining marriage will be expensive, would have complicated policy implications, would have bewildering effects on the English language and lead to further unfairness.”

The change “could cost £Billions, and involve amending hundreds of pieces of government legislation. The word ‘marriage’ appears 3,258 times in UK legislation, which underlines the central role the institution plays in national law. Introducing SSM is a legal can of worms which cannot be achieved without changing the legal and common definition of the word marriage, and other words which define it (e.g. ‘husband and wife’, ‘consummation’, and ‘adultery’). These changes will inevitably change the definition and nature of marriage for opposite sex couples by trying to accommodate these two different kinds of relationship under one legal umbrella.” (3).

If, as it is suggested, civil partnerships become open to heterosexuals and marriage open to same-sex couples then even the leading homosexual advocates admits this would cost about £5 billion.

How can the government’s proposals be justified at a time of deep national debt and economic recession? In terms of cost alone and the additional complex administrative changes SSM must be seen as an expensive irrelevance which must not shape public policy. The fact that Policy Exchange fails to recognise and include these aspects in their report is a serious omission.


REFERENCES:

3. www.cmf.org.uk Christian Medical Fellowship. Article: Peter Saunders: ‘Why not legalise same-sex marriage?