Conservative MPs should think twice before voting against equal marriage

Equal marriage has provoked anguished internal discussions in the Tory Party. Twenty  Association Chairmen have asked the Prime Minister to backtrack on the proposals and up to 180 MPs are rumoured to be considering voting against the proposals today. But opponents of the Bill should rethink their position, given that our research and international evidence shows that gay marriage would be good for gay people and good for the institution of marriage, as well as being firmly based in conservative thinking.

The conservative tradition isn’t that of stern, unbending reaction that its critics often caricature it as. Instead, throughout history Conservatives have adapted to changed circumstances – in Disraeli’s words to ‘preserve all that is good… and remove all that is bad.’ Extending the beneficial institution of marriage to gay people would be firmly within that tradition – protecting and preserving the institution of marriage, whilst removing the inequity and unfairness that excludes gay people from the institution.