Christian Peoples Alliance campaigns for London Assembly on ‘traditional marriage’
The Christian Peoples Alliance will be campaigning for a seat on the London Assembly in next week’s elections with a message of ‘Supporting Traditional Marriage’.
The Alliance launched a seven-point manifesto at the weekend, with a focus on protecting the family, “society’s bed-rock institution”.
The CPA’s proposed Family Oyster Card would give 25 percent off all fares in London travel zones for households which receive child benefit, a scheme which would apply to families with gay parents.
Similarly, the CPA says it will campaign for a £1,000 gratuity for couples who marry in order to promote strong households.
The CPA, which opposes marriage equality, confirmed to PinkNews.co.uk that this measure was designed for the straight couples marrying under current marriage laws.
If the government’s proposal for marriage equality is enacted, however, and the gratuity scheme is adopted, the Christian Peoples Alliance would have initiated a measure that would presumably reward gay couples with £1,000 for marrying.
The CPA told PinkNews.co.uk they were campaigning with regard to the law as it currently stands.
CPA’s leader Alan Craig said at the weekend: “Unlike the Coalition, the CPA believes in giving marriage privileges and our policy commitments underline this. Family breakdown has doubled since 1980 and the trend is almost entirely going the wrong way. The Coalition’s proposals on gay marriage do not help.
“All successful child-bearing relationships involve marriage. 97% of intact couples with 15 year old children are married – long-term co-habitation is very rare. The cost of broken relationships is hitting children hard, with personal tragedies to the parents involved and real economic damage to society. It is time all parties backed marriage and we intend to be the first in London.”
He referred to the “unsated” ambitions of the “Gaystapo” and quoted the book of Ecclesiastes: “Someone once said, ‘There is a time for silence and a time to speak… a time for peace and a time for war’”.
He wrote in the Church of England Newspaper that marriage equality could be “the catalyst for war and a cultural fight-back”.
He later said of the article: “I’ve nothing against ordinary gay people but the leadership, well I stick by my word Gaystapo. It is bullying. I oppose bullying and hatred in all its forms.
“There is no justification for the bullying or intimidation of gays and that has been rectified in law, but we’ve moved on to a new game. We’re now seeing these attitudes of intolerance they accuse their opponents of.”
In addition to voting for a Mayor, Londoners will go to the polls on 3 May to choose 14 London Assembly members from constituencies around the capital and 11 further members from a London-wide list.
Voters choose London-wide candidates by party in a vote decided by proportional representation, meaning each party need only secure 5 percent of the total to send a candidate to the Assembly.
