Lesbian and gay charity Stonewall has announced that it will campaign for gay marriage equality.

In a statement released yesterday, it said: “We seek to secure marriage for gay people as a civil vehicle on the same basis as heterosexual marriage, available in a registry office but without a mandate on religious organisations to celebrate it.

“We seek to retain civil partnerships for lesbian and gay people recognising their special and unique status.”

The charity said its position on gay marriage had changed following its biennial supporter survey, conducted this month.

Stonewall was recently criticised by co-founder Michael Cashman for not supporting gay marriage.

Cashman, a Labour MEP, wrote on PinkNews.co.uk in September that he was “disappointed” the gay lobbying charity had failed to support equality for same-sex couples.

He wrote: “[Stonewall's chief executive] Ben Summerskill argued that it is an issue of ‘strategy and tactics’; but Stonewall is not in government, and their role is to represent the interests of LGBT communities.

“All credible polls show this to be universal access to marriage, so where’s the hurdle? Stonewall has been ‘consulting’ for so long that its deafening silence may end up being interpreted as being against universal marriage.”

Comments are closed.