National petition for marriage passes 100,000 milestone …and still growing

The national petition launched by the Coalition for Marriage (C4M), has been signed by more than 100,000 in just two weeks.

This important milestone has been reached after an influx of paper copies of the petition, which can be downloaded from c4m.org.uk

The petition, which opposes the Government’s attempts to redefine marriage, was launched on 20th February at an event attended by prominent church leaders, MPs, peers, legal and constitutional experts and members of the public.

It was launched in response to Government plans to consult on how to introduce same-sex marriage, which are planned for later this month.

The petition calls on the Government to leave current definition of marriage alone, which currently defines marriage as the voluntary union between one man and one woman for life.

At the launch event last month C4M polling from January showed a majority of the British public (51 per cent) back the current status, with just a third (34 per cent) backing the change.

“We are confident that the more people hear the arguments, the more they will support holding on to traditional marriage,” said Colin Hart, C4M Campaign Director.

“There has been a tremendous response to the petition launched just two weeks ago, which underlines the strength of public support for our campaign. I am confident that public opinion is increasingly moving in our direction and the government has misjudged the mood of the nation.

“Those who have signed the petition believe that there is no need to redefine marriage because of pressure from a handful of single issue pressure groups and the forces of political correctness. I am encouraged that many young people have been using social networking media to share the petition with their friends.

“There is no need to redefine marriage as civil partnerships already confer all the legal rights of marriage on same sex couples. It would be profoundly undemocratic as none of the main political parties put this huge change in their manifesto and yet want to push this through without the public having a say.

“And the Government seems to think it can rewrite a thousand years of legislation, without all sorts of damaging consequences both intended and unintended. It is time the Government listened to those who back traditional marriage and consider all the implications of their actions, before it’s too late.”