Video: Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham supports equality with @Out4Marriage film
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has become the latest politician and one of the most senior Catholic figures in British politics to record an Out4Marriage video.
Mr Burnham, MP for Leigh, came fourth in the leadership election for the Labour party in 2010, behind Ed and David Miliband and Ed Balls.
He voiced support for marriage equality between gay and straight couples in 2010, telling Catholic publication The Tablet that civil partnerships could be seen as “second-class arrangements” ahead of his bid for the party leadership.
During the leadership race that year he told PinkNews.co.uk: “I wholeheartedly support it. Throughout my political career, I’ve spoken of the importance of commitment and relationships and I’m also somebody who believes in the absolute equality of every human being and that should be equal in the eyes of the law. so I think, actually, I was the first leadership candidate to support gay marriage.”
In his video for the Out4Marriage campaign, Mr Burnham reiterates the commitment to equality, saying: “I want to explain why I’m in full support of equal marriage. The traditional side of me is a full believer, a strong believer in marriage. But the progressive side of me believes in the innate and true equality of every single human being. And that’s why it follows that I’m a complete supporter of equal marriage.
“What matters is the love between two people whether they are gay or they are straight and what’s also important to me in terms of my political beliefs is that everybody has full equality in the face of the law. So I’m Out4Marriage, are you?”
Supporters of the Out4Marriage campaign so far include the Home Secretary Theresa May, Sir Richard Branson, the Virgin founder; The Saturdays girl group; Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary; David Walliams, the Britain’s Got Talent judge; Yvette Cooper, the shadow Home Secretary; Caroline Lucas, the leader of the Green party; Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dem Equalities Minister; Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner; Lord (Chris) Smith), the Advertising Standards Authority chairman and Rabbi Ariel Friedlander.
