No, I will not be taking part in any Gay Pride March tomorrow despite it seeming to become a necessary fashion accessory for an increasing number of politicians. It is very definitely not my scene and people who know me will understand that.

Oscar Wilde

I take the view that people’s sexual practices and preferences are personal and private and not a matter for public information or consumption. I have good friends whom I know are gay but they don’t make a fuss about it and neither do I. However, I do struggle when I see two men who have apparently “married” one another then kissing for the cameras. That is how I am and I cannot change my hesitation over this public expression of something that was never in my upbringing. I know I am an old fogie and that younger generations largely take a different view but I cannot change and I do not want to change.

So I say to those who are marching for Gay Pride that you may feel an exhilaration and a release from what you will see as perverse and persecuting views of past centuries. I hope you will also understand the sensitivity of this issue for some of us who were brought up to see marriage as the union of a man and a women for the procreation of children. Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer and the King James Bible have a much stronger hold on our views and beliefs than you might give credit for and you should be very careful as the old order changeth, yielding place to new lest one good custom should corrupt the world. And if you don’t know where that comes from, shame on you and reach for a copy of Morte D’Arthur by Alfred, Lord Tennyson