Two news items surprised me today.
The first was to learn that the Irish, traditionally Catholic with a large “C” and conservative with a small “C”, have voted in favour of legalising marriage between people of the same sex. I have to say I struggle with this. The BBC have been full of it and we have had the inevitable pictures of two men kissing and holding hands. Perhaps it is my age and a lifetime of witnessing weddings in the traditional Prayer Book style but marriage means a man and a woman and, I think, a strong protection for the resulting children. I do not like the in-your-face style of the LGBT (whatever that stands for) lobby. They know there are people who have strong views and who find this very difficult to stomach but they insists on flaunting something that is essentially private.
The second issue was equally baffling for me. I gather that a senior Conservative MP is threatening to resign his Cabinet seat to be able to oppose the scrapping of the European human rights laws. What is the matter with the man – or woman? We are perfectly capable of framing our own charter of rights although I hope it will be minimalist, not heavily politically correct and framed to balance rights with responsibilities. The current Euro legislation has been used by too many people who should be kicked out of the country to remain in it, funded by our generous benefit system and having their human rights defence and appeals funded by our legal aid system.
It’s a funny old world and not as gay – in my sense of the word – as it used to be.
