Fury at council's gay ceremony stance

06 October 2005

THE council's refusal to sanction same-sex partnership ceremonies has been attacked by speakers at both Labour and Conservative party conferences ahead of a crucial vote on the issue next Monday.

Councillors had an opportunity to endorse civil partnership ceremonies for same sex couples in March but deferred the decision until Monday's meeting to reflect the fact that, in its own words, 'Bromley council considers it vitally important to encourage traditional marriage'.

However, Conservative MP Alan Duncan, the first openly gay Tory MP, said Conservative-run Bromley council should 'get real' in its opposition to the new Civil Partnership Act, which give the same rights and responsibilities to same-sex couples as married couples.

Speaking at the Conservative Party Conference on Monday he said: "Carry on like that and this party will look like nothing more than a repository for prejudice and spite.

"It is therefore contemptible that after [the Civil Partnership Act] was passed so overwhelmingly in Parliament, some Conservative councils are now trying to block its ceremonies on council property."

"I say to them, please, get real. So we can all get going. Sounding like a mixture of Victor Meldrew and Colonel Blimp does not constitute a coherent policy or a basis for political appeal."

Bromley's Conservatives have been criticised from both sides during the conference season, with a motion passed at the Labour conference last week 'condemning' the council.

The motion read: "Conference believes that by interpreting the law in such a narrow way so as to only allow couples to register their partnership and denying them the right to have friends and family present to celebrate their day, is homophobic and is against the spirit of the legislation."

Local activist Liam Curran, who contested the seat of Beckenham in May's elections, said: "They are an embarrassment to their party nationally now for picking on minority groups. I think they thought it was an easy thing to do to get support from the less enlightened members of society, but it has backfired."

London Mayor Ken Livingstone will be watching Monday's executive meeting with interest, having threatened legal action over the council's stance.

In July, over 100 people took to the streets of Bromley provoked by comments from senior councillors implying that same-sex marriages were worth less than traditional unions.