Results 1-13 of 13 for gay speaker:Alan Duncan

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnerships Bill [Lords]: Schedule 28 — Consequential amendments: Scotland (9 Nov 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: .... Being forced to do something does not make one moral. It might make one conform to certain moral norms, but only a decision that is taken entirely freely can be totally moral. Conversely, being gay is not a matter of choice. A natural disposition, which does no harm to others, cannot be immoral, however much it might be intensely despised by some. In "Law, Morality and Religion", Basil...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnerships Bill [Lords]: New Clause 1 — Categories of civil partners other than same sex couples (9 Nov 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...good—least of all those whom the amendments are claimed to help. Let us examine the Christian Institute advertisement. It states that 84 per cent. of people say yes to the assertion that if gay couples—and there is an insinuation in that that I do not particularly like, but I shall take it at face value—are to get new house-sharing rights, then so should two sisters who...

Public Bill Committee: Civil Partnership Bill [Lords]: Clause 7 - Place of registration (21 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...and it must be removed. For instance, many deconsecrated Methodist churches in many villages around the country are now private houses. On the Charing Cross road, there is a former church that is a gay club. The building was designed for use solely or mainly for religious purposes, but it is not in use for or mainly for such purposes. There is another place called The Sanctuary that has...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ..., does she accept that homosexual love exists, as do permanent long-term homosexual relationships? Those relationships are of considerable value, even though they may be different. People who are gay are never going to enter into a heterosexual marriage, but does my right hon. Friend accept that their wish to be recognised as partners in no way competes with or undermines the heterosexual...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: I live in hope. The demand for the Bill is far greater than many people realise. One of the facts about people's attitudes to gay people in the modern world is that essentially they are relaxed—utterly unexercised—about the phenomenon until the time when which they detect intolerance, at which point they become deeply and profoundly indignant. That is the climate in which the Bill...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: I thought for a moment my hon. Friend said two gays in Committee.

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...another place, before turning to the amendments passed there. The need for the Bill is obvious to anyone who has seen and felt some of the heart-rending injustices that can occur when a committed gay couple are denied the basic rights that a married heterosexual couple would take for granted. Despite sharing their lives together, too many of these people find that their mutual love and...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...schemes because other people in a similar scheme could be disadvantaged by the retrospectivity applied to same-sex couples. That needs to be discussed properly in Committee in a responsible way. Gay men and women are a fact of life in our country, in our communities and in the House. There are some who wish it were not so, but it is. Gay couples live together in committed relationships...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...purpose of these partnerships in a religious institution. By the way, the Bill is flawed in that respect: it refers to any religious institution "so designed", but on Charing Cross road there is a gay club in an old church—a building designed as a religious institution. That might have to be dealt with in Committee. However, I repeat that it is for the Church to decide. That...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...item on the political agenda and are becoming increasingly important. Measures such as those before us today are a way of protecting the family in changed times, not of damaging it. As I have said, gay couples are a fact of life. Rather than ignoring their existence, perhaps the House can now take a positive stance on their position in society. I am sure that the issue of child care, which...

Orders of the Day — Civil Partnership Bill [Lords] (12 Oct 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...(Mr. Redwood). In a sense, what she said starkly contradicts the comments of Baroness Scotland in another place. The Bill is not, as some have argued, about giving an extra set of rights to gay couples and thereby discriminating against other couples. On the contrary, it is about removing a discrimination that already exists in law against them. For this reason, it is a case not of greater...

Oral Answers to Questions — Constitutional Affairs: Judicial Appointments Commission (10 Feb 2004)

Mr Alan Duncan: May I invite the Minister to study page 53 of this week's Gay Times? Perhaps he cannot normally reach the top shelf to see it. It says: "The second gay judge is appointed", and gives all the details. Under our existing system, that happened perfectly sensibly, it has been reported and that is fine. I consider it good news. Were the Government's proposals to be enacted, choosing such people...

Local Government Bill — [2nd Allotted Day]: New Clause 11 — Repeal of Section 2A of Local Government Act 1986 (10 Mar 2003)

Mr Alan Duncan: ...the case that, in passing the Adoption and Children Act 2002, we last year institutionalised in law homosexual parenthood as an actual family relationship? Therefore, if a council were to look for gay parents under the law that this House has passed, it could fall foul of section 28. There is a conflict.