Gay marriage petition 'offensive'

Dec 13 2012

A claim that same-sex marriage could lead to "sexual chaos" has been branded offensive by an MSP.

Amy King put forward a petition to Holyrood, urging the Scottish Government to retain the current definition of marriage as a "union between one man and one woman".

Members of Holyrood's Equal Opportunities Committee discussed the petition, which attracted 2,587 signatures in support of it, the day after the Scottish Government launched a consultation on proposed legislation to allow same-sex marriage.

In her petition Ms King argued that allowing gay couples to wed would "have huge implications for what is taught and promoted in schools and in wider society".

She said: "Schools would be expected to promote same-sex marriage to children as equal to man-woman marriage, creating confusion and going against the wishes of many parents.

"If marriage can be redefined in this way, it could then be further changed to allow polygamy. For example, Canada has legalised same-sex marriage and litigation is now under way in one Canadian province to legalise polygamy.

"The eventual result could be sexual chaos where any group of adults of any gender can claim the legal rights of a family."

Same-sex couples could enter civil partnerships instead, she pointed out, saying there were 465 of these registered in Scotland last year, compared with 28,480 marriages.

Independent MSP John Finnie said the petition's content is offensive and urged MSPs to take no further action on the petition.

"I have had due regard to it. I have read it thoroughly. I did find the content offensive. We should take no action on it," he said.