Labour's three-line whip on gay marriage is illiberal

Ed Miliband tells the Evening Standard today that Labour will give ‘wholehearted’ backing to gay marriage and says that churches and religious bodies should be allowed to conduct these ceremonies. At the same Labour has let it be known to the Standard that the party is ‘highly likely’ to impose a three-line whip on the gay marriage bill, though it can’t say so for certain until it knows the wording. Same as the Lib Dems, then, but unlike the Tories, who are allowing a free vote. As Mr Miliband says, ‘I think whether you’re gay or straight, you should be able to signify your commitment, your love, with the term “marriage”’.

Well, it’s very lovely that Mr Miliband is so committed to matrimony given he only got round to marrying the mother of his children once he was leader of the Labour party. But to insist that the term marriage should be equally accessible to gay and straight couples doesn’t quite do justice to the baggage that the institution brings with it: a pragmatic association with creating and raising children, which gay couples can only do by artificial means, and a basic foundation in the complementarity of the sexes.