Two-tier marriage amendment withdrawn from equal marriage bill
An amendment to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill which would have differentiated between same-sex and opposite sex marriages, has been withdrawn at Report Stage.
Amendment 85, introduced by Lord Armstrong of Ilminster, a life peer, was withdrawn following several peers noting that a similar amendment was voted on, and rejected on Monday; the first day of Report Stage.
Baroness Thornton said the amendment was “ingenuous”, in that it “seeks to wreck the bill through secondary legislation”. She questioned how same-sex marriage undermines opposite sex marriage, and saying that the amendement would have undermined the very point of the bill.
On Monday, during the first day of debate at Reports stage, Amendment 1 was put forward for marriage terminology, to make a distinction between ‘same-sex couples’ and ‘opposite sex couples’.
The previous amendment was also withdrawn.
After it completes the Report stage today, the bill will go through its Third Reading on 15 July.
