Councillors in Glasgow have backed the Scottish Government’s controversial plans to redefine marriage, despite widespread opposition to any change.
The Government, led by the Scottish National Party (SNP), is currently holding a consultation on whether to rewrite the definition of marriage.
Last Thursday councillors at Glasgow City Council unanimously backed a motion supporting the controversial change.
They also want to make civil partnerships available to people of opposite sexes, a move which would have considerable financial implications.
Yet the city’s motto “Let Glasgow Flourish” comes from a text inscribed on the bell of the Tron Church cast in 1631 – “Lord let Glasgow flourish through the preaching of thy word and praising thy name”.
The councillors also claimed that redefining marriage and allowing heterosexual couples to enter into civil partnerships would not “undermine the rights and freedoms” of faith groups that disagree with them.
But last week one of Scotland’s most senior Roman Catholics warned that the Scottish Government risked making the beliefs of many Scots “unlawful” if it redefined marriage.
Mario Conti, the Archbishop of Glasgow, cautioned that a “hugely significant number” of Scots would be “vulnerable to accusations of discrimination” for supporting traditional marriage.
Sir Tom Farmer, the wealthy founder of Kwik-Fit and a Scottish National Party (SNP) donor, has also criticised the party’s plans to redefine marriage.
He said: “Most people would see a marriage as being between two of the opposite sexes, the male and the female.
“One of the main important areas of marriage is the creation of children, and the family life.”
Joseph Devine, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Motherwell, has warned that governments cannot “rewrite human nature”.
He said: “No government can rewrite human nature; the family and marriage existed before the state.
“Marriage is a unique relationship ordained by God to form a sacred union between a man and a woman to love and cherish each other and to nurture the human race through the procreation of children.”
Former SNP leader Gordon Wilson has responded to the Government’s consultation on redefining marriage, saying that he opposes the idea.
He said: “You attack the building block of society at your peril” and he called for a referendum on the issue.