Lord Dear’s amendment to ‘protect’ teachers from being forced to ‘endorse’ equal marriage defeated

An amendment to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill which would have “protected” teachers from being forced to “endorse” equal marriage, has been defeated in a vote in the House of Lords.
Amendment 46 was defeated in a vote at Report stage of the House of Lords by 163 to 32, as the debate around amendments went on into the night.
The amendment had aimed to ensure that the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill would not “Affect the right of teachers to express their personal views about marriage in an appropriate way, or mean that any teacher will be under any obligation to endorse a particular view of marriage.”
Several peers noted the similarity of the wording of Lord Dear’s teachers amendment to Section 28, which also specified rules around the “promotion” of equal marriage in schools.
Lord Dear tabled amendments during Committee stage, in an attempt to wreck the bill last month.
More: Civil partnerships, equal marriage, gay marriage, gay wedding, lesbian marriage, lesbian wedding, marriage, Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, marriage equality, same sex marriage, Same-sex wedding, UK Marriage Bill, wedding
Click to comment