The final vote on Scotland’s Equal Marriage Bill is set to take place on Tuesday, February 4, with a business motion expected to be formally agreed in the Scottish Parliament this afternoon.
The stage 3 debate on the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill will give MSPs a final chance to make amendments before deciding whether to pass the Bill into law.
The Equality Network, the Scottish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality charity, urges MSPs to pass the Bill and reject any last minute negative amendments that they say would roll back LGBT equality in Scotland.
Tom French, Policy Coordinator for the Equality Network, said: “After six years of campaigning for equal marriage there is now just a fortnight to go until the final vote. Scotland can be proud that after thoughtful consideration we have produced one of the fairest and most progressive equal marriage bills in the world. We hope that MSPs will now pass it into law and finally give LGBT people an equal right to marry the person they love.”
Last week the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee completed its stage 2 consideration of amendments to the Bill. Four amendments proposed by the Equality Network to improve the Bill for transgender and intersex people were successfully passed.
A series of amendments were also proposed by opponents of the Bill but these were rejected by the Committee. Despite the Equality Network maintaining that the amendments would have “undermined the purpose of the bill and rolled back LGBT equality”, it is anticipated that some of these amendments may be brought back for debate at stage 3.
Opinion polls have shown consistent public support for same-sex marriage across Scotland. The most recent poll was conducted in June 2012 by Ipsos MORI on behalf of the Equality Network. It showed record support with 64% of Scots in favour of same-sex marriage, and just 26% opposed. Separate polls conducted over the past three years by Populus, YouGov, Angus Reid, and the independent Scottish Social Attitudes Survey, have all shown similar levels of support.
The Equality Network point out that equal marriage is fast becoming an international norm. Most countries around Scotland already have same-sex marriage, including Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Portugal. While the UK parliament passed same-sex marriage legislation for England and Wales last year, and Ireland has announced it will hold a vote in 2015.
The Equality Network launched Equal Marriage, the UK’s first major campaign for same-sex marriage in 2008. After six years of campaigning, the Equality Network will hold a final rally in support of equal marriage outside the Scottish Parliament at 1.30pm on the day of the vote.
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