Uruguay delays gay marriage vote

27 December 2012 Last updated at 07:57 GMT Gay rights campaigners criticised the delay in voting on the bill Uruguay's Senate has delayed until April a vote on a bill that would legalise gay marriage, amid calls for further analysis of the proposal.

The Marriage Equality Law, approved on 11 December by the lower house, was backed by the governing coalition.

But faced with demands for more discussion, senators opted to postpone the vote until after the summer recess.

If passed, the law would make Uruguay the second Latin American nation after Argentina to allow gay marriage.

Gay rights groups criticised the delay and dozens of people demonstrated outside the Congress building in Montevideo.

"Today is not a good day for Uruguayans, for all Uruguayans, because what is at stake is the kind of society we want," lawyer Michelle Suarez told the Spanish news agency Efe.

Ms Suarez, who drafted large parts of the bill, said the Senate's decision was just a "loss of time" as "nothing would change in the country in four months".

The governing Broad Front coalition, which has a majority in both houses, issued a statement after Wednesday's senate sessions stressing that all their senators would vote for the bill.

But "out of respect for the parliamentary minorities", the draft law would be sent for discussion by a commission, the statement said.

The move highlights the controversy the proposed law has generated among some sectors of society in Uruguay.

In recent years, Uruguay has moved to allow same-sex civil unions, adoption by gay couples, and to allow gay members of the armed forces.

Uruguay's neighbour Argentina legalised gay marriage in 2010. Same-sex marriages have been legal in Mexico City since 2009.

In May, Brazil's Supreme Court voted overwhelmingly in favour of allowing same-sex couples the same legal rights as married heterosexuals.

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Judge attacks gay marriage plan

26 December 2012 Last updated at 13:44 GMT Ministers say religious groups will be able to "opt in" to holding ceremonies Ministers are pursuing the "wrong policy" on gay marriage, and should be focusing on family breakdown, a High Court judge has said.

Sir Paul Coleridge told the Times same-sex unions are a "minority issue".

But Liberal Democrat minister Lynne Featherstone has dismissed what she sees as the "shameful" arguments being used by some religious figures.

The comments come after the Roman Catholic Church's leader in England and Wales denounced the plans.

Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the BBC the government had no mandate to push through same-sex marriage laws in England and Wales.

And in his Christmas Eve sermon he said that marriage between men and women shares in "the creative love of God".

Sir Paul told the Times newspaper: "So much energy and time has been put into this debate for 0.1% of the population, when we have a crisis of family breakdown.

"While it is gratifying that marriage in any context is centre stage... but it [gay marriage] is a minority issue.

"We need... a more focused position by the government on the importance of marriage."

Sir Paul last year launched independent charity Marriage Foundation to support married couples but said the charity did not take a stance on gay marriage.

He added the breakdown of marriages and its impact on society affects 99.9% of the population, which is where more investment and time should spent.

'Strongest attack'

During his BBC interview, Archbishop Nichols said of the gay marriage plans: "There was no announcement in any party manifesto, no Green Paper, no statement in the Queen's Speech. And yet here we are on the verge of primary legislation.

"From a democratic point-of-view, it's a shambles. George Orwell would be proud of that manoeuvre, I think the process is shambolic."

He claims during a "period of listening", those who responded were "7-1 against same-sex marriage".

Archbishop of Westminster: "I think there is something of a sham going on"

Lib Dem minister Ms Featherstone writes on her blog that it is "quite shameful to argue against equal marriage on the grounds that religions will be forced to conduct such marriages".

This "not only became untrue once the government's intention to make it permissive for those religions that wish to conduct such services to have the freedom to so do - but on which issue the government is bending over backwards (some would say too far) to ensure any such fears are unwarranted", she says.

Ms Featherstone, who used to be the equalities minister and now has an international development brief, adds that "it is even more shameful" that some argue there is "no mandate" for the change.

BBC religious affairs correspondent Robert Pigott said Archbishop Nichols's comments were his strongest attack yet on the government's plans for gay marriage.

In the past, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales has likened committed gay relationships to "profound friendships".

Pope Benedict XVI reiterated his opposition to gay marriage last week in a pre-Christmas address, saying it was destroying the very "essence of the human creature".

"People dispute the idea that they have a nature, given to them by their bodily identity, that serves as a defining element of the human being. They deny their nature and decide that it is not something previously given to them, but that they make it for themselves."

The UK government has previously announced that the Church of England and Church in Wales will be banned in law from offering same-sex marriages, with other religious organisations able to "opt in" to holding ceremonies.

The government plans to allow gay marriage but says it will not force religious bodies to perform services.

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