Lord Cameron: children were ahead of the curve in accepting gay marriage
Lord Cameron has said his children “don’t bat an eyelid” when a woman introduces her wife, as he celebrated the 10th anniversary of the legalisation of gay marriage under his premiership.
In an article marking the landmark, the Foreign Secretary revealed 10 lessons he had learnt after changing the law in what he hailed as one of his proudest achievements during his time as prime minister.
Describing how young people have been fully accepting of the change, he wrote: “My children, now in their teens and twenties, don’t bat an eyelid if a woman introduces her wife, or a friend has two dads.”
He recalled a fraught local meeting with a hostile atmosphere when he saw one attendee was there with a teenage son who told him “my generation can’t see what the fuss is all about”.
He said in an article published on the government website: “As is often the case, young people were ahead of the curve.”
He admitted he had needed persuading to focus on making same-sex marriage legal as he did not think it was a priority for his coalition government in 2013.
His wife, Samantha, was “particularly vehement” in ensuring the prioritisation of gay marriage and was “particularly forceful” in shooting down suggestions of a “marriage-lite” policy which would be a diluted form of marriage designed to find a compromise between campaigners and opponents.
The first gay marriages were legal from March 29, 2014 and some couples got married immediately after the clock struck midnight.
Lord Cameron said he believed the legalisation strengthened the institution of marriage.
He wished a happy anniversary to the pioneering couples who, on this day a decade ago, became the first gay people on British shores to tie the knot.
“Marriage is marriage. Love is love,” he said.
Lord Cameron said that as the first centre-Right party to legalise equal marriage, the UK “sent out a powerful message to other nations”, including the US.
He recalled that after the UK’s landmark legislation was passed, he was at a gathering with Barack Obama, then US president, and officials joked about persuading him to follow suit.
Lord Cameron wrote: “I said to one, ‘So you want this Conservative to persuade that Democrat?’, pointing to Barack. In 2015, America passed its own legislation.”
