Oscar Wilde’s lover famously described homosexuality as “the love that dare not speak its name”. The definition fits the Coalition’s attitude to its own Same-Sex Couples Bill. It won’t say a word about it any more. Her Majesty, speaking on the advice of her ministers, did not mention the Bill in her Gracious Speech in Parliament on Wednesday. Yet it is proceeding. It returns to the House of Commons on May 20, and will reach the Lords in June.
Given that David Cameron encountered such strong resistance from his party’s supporters when he introduced the Bill, this silence is not surprising. An opinion poll of Tory defectors to Ukip in the recent council elections showed that a quarter of them had deserted their party because they opposed gay marriage. Obviously, the Prime Minister would rather talk about something else.
His difficulty, however, is that if you are trying to make a really radical change in human society, you must understand what you are doing and argue your case with conviction in public. With gay marriage, the Coalition proposes to alter fundamentally the most important social structure ever known to mankind. If it hopes to slip this quietly past the country over the summer, without any serious consequences, it is being not only dishonest, but stupid. Read more
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