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Conservative UK: Most Britons still oppose gay marriage
By Steve Doughty, Social Affairs Correspondent
The Daily Mail
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/
September 23, 2011
Most people still oppose gay marriage and the adoption of children by same-sex couples, a Government report revealed yesterday.
More than half believe homosexual marriages should not be allowed and two thirds think the adoption of children by same-sex couples should not have become legal nine years ago.
The findings from the Office for National Statistics suggest the Coalition's plans to upgrade civil partnership laws to let gay couples describe themselves as married may prove unpopular.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish were one of the first gay couples to have a civil wedding ceremony in 2005
Lib Dem Equalities Minister Lynne Featherstone said last week that to deny marriage to same-sex couples was 'simply not fair'.
But the ONS findings show many Britons still cling to conservative values and suggest Miss Featherstone's claim that the UK is 'a world leader in gay rights' only applies to a minority of the population.
The report, based on sources including the annual British Social Attitudes survey and research by the EU's Eurobarometer research arm, said only 45 per cent of British people agree that 'homosexual marriages should be allowed throughout Europe'.
Christian groups oppose the idea on the grounds that it undermines the rights of married couples and their children. The ONS findings suggest they may command majority support.
The report shows support for adoption by gay couples is even lower. Adoption of children by same-sex couples was made possible by Tony Blair's 2002 Adoption Act.
Since Labour's 2007 Sexual Orientation Regulations, at least ten Roman Catholic adoption agencies have ceased trying to find families for children because the law now compels them to consider offering children to gay couples.
The law, however, is out of step with opinion, the ONS report found. It put support in Britain for the proposition that 'adoption of children should be authorised for homosexual couples throughout Europe' at only 33 per cent, with two thirds opposed.
The ONS report said: 'While the majority of British people now accept the concept of same-sex couples as being rarely wrong, or not wrong at all, fewer people approve of same-sex couples adopting children.
'On average females have more liberal attitudes to same-sex partnerships than males.' Civil partnerships for same-sex couples were first registered at the end of 2005, giving a gay couple the same legal rights as married couples.
The process for dissolution of a civil partnership is identical to the legal process of divorce.
But gay couples may not describe their partnership as a marriage.
The report said the number of civil partnerships being registered has declined after an initial rush when many couples who wanted to put their relationship on a legal footing took advantage of the new law.
There are around 1,000 civil partnerships each year.
One in 14 of the couples have children, most of whom are adopted or were born in a previous marriage or relationship.
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