The House of Lords Approve the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill -Tuesday June 4,2013

The House of Lords spent two days debating the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill, with many members voicing their concerns

Supporting the Bill were 80 Conservatives, 160 Labour peers, 73 Lib Dems, 68 crossbenchers and 9 others.

But it rejected an amendment aimed at wrecking the bill by 242 votes, moving it a step closer to becoming law(by 390 votes to 148 - a majority of 242 in favour of same-sex weddings)

David Cameron has personally backed the legislation despite it causing a deep split in the Conservative parliamentary party - the majority of Tory MPs voted against it.

Speaking in the Lord for the government, Baroness Stowell of Beeston hailed the legislation as a "force for good" which would strengthen the institution of marriage.

Lady Stowell urged peers to back the Bill and assured them that religious organisations would not be compelled to perform same sex marriages if they did not wish to.

Lord Fowler, a former chairman of the Tory Party who supports the Bill, told peers that gay people, who continued to suffer discrimination, had the right "to expect what we all expect; nothing more, but certainly nothing less. "Parliament should value people equally in the law and enabling same-sex marriage removes a current inequity,"

Independent crossbencher Lord Dear demanded on Monday that the Bill be refused a second reading, following fierce opposition to the legislation from dozens of Tory backbenchers and religious leaders

Lord Dear's amendment was supported by 66 Conservative peers, 16 Labour peers, two Liberal Democrats, 46 crossbenchers, nine bishops and nine others.

Peter Tatchell, who co-ordinates the Equal Love campaign, said: "This is a victory for love, marriage and equality.
"We are another step closer to our goal of equal marriage. It signals that the House of Lords accepts the principle that we should all be equal before the law."


The bill - also backed by Labour leader Ed Miliband - was given a second reading without a vote taking place and will now go forward to more detailed scrutiny by peers.
The result was greeted with cheers from supporters of same-sex marriage gathered outside Parliament

The bill would allow couples, who can currently form civil partnerships, to marry.
If it passes into law, religious organisations would have to "opt in" if they wished to offer gay weddings