Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens ‘regrets’ opposing same-sex marriage

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Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens has admitted he regrets getting involved in the debate over same-sex marriage – and says he should have opposed divorce instead.

The right-wing commentator and columnist, who is the brother of late thinker Christopher Hitchens, is a long-standing critic of the LGBT rights movement.

However Mr Hitchens opened up about a surprising change of view – telling journalist Owen Jones that he regrets getting involved in the debate at all.

Speaking in a YouTube interview, he said: “The real blow struck in marriage was struck in all major western societies in the 1960s by the introduction of what was in effect no-fault divorce.

“There has been absolutely no suggestion since the 1960s, in any major political party, that that form of divorce was a mistake.”

Asked about same-sex marriage, he continues: “I think it’s a side-effect of it. It’s a consequence of the collapse of heterosexual marriage, and I regret now getting involved in the argument about same-sex marriage, because it was a Stalingrad, a diversion.

“Why is one worrying about a few thousand people who want to have same-sex marriages, without being at all concerned about the collapse of heterosexual marriage, which involves millions of people, and millions of children?”

Watch the clip below: