SCOTLAND: Marriage Bill Introduced

Scotland’s marriage equality bill was introduced yesterday. The BBC reports:

A proposed bill to allow same-sex marriage in Scotland has been published at Holyrood. The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill aims to revise the law, while protecting rights of religious groups not to carry out ceremonies. Now that the proposal has been lodged it will undergo scrutiny before committee members and in the Scottish Parliament chamber.

The Church of Scotland and Roman Catholic Church are against the plans. The government said the bill would also allow civil ceremonies to take place at a location other than a registrar’s office. Scotland’s Health Secretary Alex Neil said the publication of the same-sex marriage legislation marked a “historic moment for Scotland and for equal rights in our country”.

The Scottish government has posted the below short clip to the YouTube channel of LGBT Scotland.