The Quaker church really does stand by its formal name, the Religious Society of Friends: They’ve opted to recognize and perform same-sex marriages, and will lobby the British government to legalize the practice. Quakers already recognized civil partnerships.
religion
Quakers Vow to Support Gay Wedding Biz
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AlanInUtah
This makes me smile. 🙂
sweetdog
Hooray! It’s amazing that the Protestants (aka “christians”) are SO far behind. My mother, who grew up a Quaker, would have been proud.
ajax
In the US, the RSOF traditionally left the decision to marry same sex partners to each individual meeting house. Meeting houses are governed by consensus vote, so it was always a slow path to get a meeting house to welcome same sex marriages – although many do – and some have done so for many years!
I’m not sure that the Yearly Meeting in Kent would have any effect on meetings in the US.
tavdy79
Just a clarification: that’s the British Quakers, not the worldwide Quakers. This actually represents less of a departure from the previous situation than it initially appears. Until now individual Quakers, plus some Quaker local & area Meetings (the equivalent of congregations and dioceses) were lobbying the government to allow CP ceremonies to be performed in religious buildings; currently this is banned along with gay marriage.
If the Tories win the next election with an outright majority (as seems likely) there is little chance the UK will have marriage equality within the next decade – the Tories are allied with some of the most homophobic parties in the EU, and although David Cameron has been actively wooing the pink vote over the last year he has shown every intention of continuing the current system of marital apartheid, mainly because the Tories rely heavily on right-wing religious groups for support. The only real chance is if the Tories don’t win an outright majority and are forced into a coalition with either the Lib Dems or (hack-spit) Neo-Labs.
schlukitz
Yeah for the Quakers!
Sarah Dodgson
British Quakers meeting at York in Northern England, traditionally one of the most socially conservative areas of the UK, have minuted a request to their executive body to engage with the government to change an existing legal privilege enjoyed by the Religious Society of Friends in the UK, ie the right to perform our own marriages. As this is now a question of religious liberty it seems to me to be unlikely that any government will want to be seen to restrict the right of a religious group from practising what it sees as a harmless addition to a right it already enjoys. Wild talk about being on a collision course with any political party is not helpful in this.
Fitz
OOOOOh great! The pacifists are on our side. Soon we will work to get the rest of the road-kill contingent.
Alex
@tavdy79: Forgive my ignorance of British politics, but if the Torries get an outright majority, why would they need to ally “with some of the most homophobic parties in the EU”? Can’t they govern however they want? And will their majority be that stable?
From what I’ve heard on the BBC, it seems the election will be more of a TBO (throw the bums out) effect than a genuine expression of the ideological leanings of electorate. Again, I don’t know much about British politics, but will they be able to govern to the right with so many new (and presumably to some extent, younger) MPs?