VERSION|0.5.1|SUBJECT|Looking Forward to Being Married|CONTENT|After last night&#039;s historic vote in the House of Commons, I&#039;m very much looking forward to finally being married, rather than &quot;civil partnered&quot; (or whatever the correct adjective is).

A couple of surprising votes on the issue. First of all I&#039;m absolutely delighted that my local Tory MP, James Duddridge, voted in favour of the bill. I&#039;m rather disappointed that some LibDem MPs voted against though.

Alan Beith, a Methodist lay preacher and chair of the LibDem Christian Forum was no real surprise. However, Sarah Teather was absolutely astonishing. She has consistently voted for gay equality and against homophobia throughout her career. That she should suddenly vote against this last piece of equality legislation was completely inexplicable, until that is, you realise one thing: [url=http://brentlibdems.org.uk/en/article/2013/657279/sarah-teather-s-statement-on-tonight-s-vote]she&#039;s a Catholic[/url]. That someone as liberal to the core as Sarah Teather can have her views so distorted on this single issue says much about the vitriolic hate campaign of the Catholic Church on this. I suspect she will have deep regrets about her decision in years to come.

John Pugh, I knew very little about. Again, as a LibDem there has to be some pressing reason for him to take such an illiberal stance. Before you click on the link below, see if you can guess what it is.

[url=http://www.qlocal.co.uk/southport/news_list/MP_John_Pugh_Letter_To_Constituents_On_Gay_Marriage-52012148.htm]http://www.qlocal.co.uk/southport/news_list/MP_John_Pugh_Letter_To_Constituents_On_Gay_Marriage-52012148.htm[/url]

I&#039;m all in favour of MPs voting according to their conscience on matters like this. What I don&#039;t think is acceptable is to vote according to someone else&#039;s conscience, to have your mind made up for you by a discredited hierarchy or a holy book. That there are MPs, and worse, LibDem MPs, who take their moral instruction from the Vatican (of all places!) is deeply worrying.|CATEGORIES|11|IP-ADDRESS|94.168.119.214|CREATEDBY|admin|DATE|1360118971