UK Fast-Tracks Marriage Vote

It appears that Britain is fast-tracking a legislative vote on same-sex marriage.

David Cameron and Nick Clegg are planning to hold a vote on gay marriage in the new year, settling the issue long before the general election in 2015. Downing Street said originally that same sex civil marriage would be introduced at some stage before the next General Election and there was no mention of the proposed legislation in the last Queen’s Speech. Mr Cameron has promised to legislate to allow gay couples to marry in civil ceremonies, while not forcing the changes on the Church.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, this month said allowing marriage for homosexual couples is crucial to help the Conservatives stay in “in step with people and how they want to live their lives”. His call came in an analysis of why Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in the US presidential election, despite polls showing the Republican candidate was trusted more to turn the economy around. Mr Osborne said that the Republicans had lost “swathes of voters” because of their traditionalist positions on social issues. However, polls in the UK suggest the policy could damage the Conservatives’ core support.

The website Protect The Pope is furious.

In a sign of panic PM David Cameron has decided to rush through gay marriage legisation in the New Year, abandoning his original plan to bring it to parliament just before the 2015 General Election. The Prime Minister is suddenly waking up to the fact that many of his core voters up and down the country don’t share his metrosexual presumptions. This change of plans is no doubt due to the fact that Conservatives on the ground and national opinion polls show that he will lose many core Tory voters if he changes the accepted definition of marriage. By rushing the extremely controversial legislation through he is counting on the dust settling in time for the election three years from now.

Taiwan's animators have already weighed in.