Same-sex marriage a maze for lawmakers

It is a row that is impressed on the memory of every Scottish politician. In the early glad confident days of devolution, the then communities minister, Wendy Alexander, proposed the repeal of the law (known as Section 2A) that debarred local authorities from “promoting homosexuality”. The move was greeted with a storm of protest, reaching its climax in a private referendum financed by Brian Souter that recorded a six to one vote against.

In the event the repeal still went ahead. But the experience suggested to many a MSP that gay rights was a hornets’ nest that was safer left undisturbed. When just a few years later Westminster decided to introduce civil partnerships for same sex couples, Holyrood passed the buck, and allowed the UK Parliament to pass the necessary legislation for Scotland along with that for England and Wales.

But now, thanks to further developments south of the Border, the issue is back on the agenda. At present, in deference to religious sensibilities, civil partnerships are strictly secular affairs. However, following legislation passed shortly before the 2010 general election, the UK government recently conducted a consultation on whether civil partnerships in England and Wales should be allowed to take place in religious premises. Its full response is still awaited, but the Home Office has already signalled that one of the lessons it has drawn is that “there is a desire to move towards equal civil marriage and partnerships”.

In other words, gay marriage is now under active consideration at Westminster. Consequently, Holyrood has little choice but to examine the issue too. Alex Salmond’s government has promised a consultation later this year. Yet even before it has been announced, the potential ferocity of the debate has been demonstrated in the reaction evoked by the motion put down by the SNP MSP, John Mason, expressing some potential concerns about introducing gay marriage.

Yet the Scotland of today is a very different place from the Scotland of a decade ago, when the row about the repeal of Section 2A took place. Since then the country has experienced something of a “cultural revolution” so far as attitudes towards same sex relationships are concerned. Once the object of widespread moral outrage and hostility, such relationships have come increasingly to be regarded as part and parcel of the fabric of Scottish society.

In 2000 nearly half of Scots (48 per cent) felt that sexual relations between two adults of the same sex were “always” or “mostly” wrong, while only 29 per cent felt that they were “not wrong at all”. Now those figures have effectively been reversed. According to the latest Scottish Social Attitudes survey, exactly 50 per cent now say there is nothing wrong at all with such relationships, while only 27 per cent feel that they are always or mostly wrong.

That change in attitudes towards sex relationships has been accompanied by a similar change in attitudes towards gay marriage. Not that the prospect has ever been as unpopular as perhaps might be thought. Even in 2002, when the issue was first addressed by Scottish Social Attitudes, as many as 41 per cent agreed that “gay or lesbian couples should have the right to marry one another if they want to”, while only 29 per cent disagreed. But now no less than 61 per cent support the idea, while only 19 per cent are opposed.

So it would seem that MSPs would have little to fear in legislating for gay marriage. A majority of their voters now back the idea. Despite the row about the repeal of Section 2A a decade ago, such a move should be capable of being introduced with little fuss or bother.

However, things are not quite that straightforward. There are still some sections of Scottish society where the idea of gay marriage is unpopular. One such group comprises older people aged 65-plus. Brought up at a time when male homosexuality was still illegal across the whole of the UK, only 29 per cent of them agree with the idea, while 41 per cent are opposed.

Another set of doubters consists of the one in eight (disproportionately older) Scots who attend a religious service at least once a week. Less than a third of them are in favour of gay marriage (31 per cent) while nearly half (46 per cent) are opposed. In contrast to the considerable change of outlook that has taken place amongst Scots as a whole, the level of opposition to gay marriage amongst religious adherents has not fallen much at all.

It is thus no accident that much of the most outspoken opposition to gay marriage has come from organised religion, including not least the Catholic Church (though in truth Catholics are less likely to oppose gay marriage than those who belong to one of the more fundamentalist Protestant denominations, such as the Wee Frees). Yet whereas they might once have spoken for the mainstream of Scottish society, the views of most clerics and their more devoted followers now set them at odds with majority more secular opinion.

But then it is not just their views about same sex relationships and gay marriage that set religious adherents apart – so also do their opinions about marriage. With co-habitation now commonplace in Scotland, it comes as little surprise that more than two-thirds (69 per cent) of Scots agree that “it is all right for a couple to live together without intending to get married”, while fewer than one in ten (9 per cent) actively disagree. However, amongst religious adherents the balance of opinion is rather different – only 36 per cent agree, while almost as many, 34 per cent, disagree.

In short, for many of a religious persuasion, marriage itself matters in a way that it does not for the rest of Scotland, many of whom are relatively indifferent to the institution. Religious organisations that oppose gay marriage do so because it offends their conception of the role and importance of the institution – and their followers seemingly make a similar link. Amongst all those who oppose co-habitation, no less than 60 per cent also oppose gay marriage.

In contrast, those who support gay marriage are not necessarily keen for same sex couples to start banging at the church door. Rather, they are simply not quite sure why those who want to get married should not be able to do so. No less than four in five of those who back gay marriage are also quite relaxed about people opting to co-habit rather than marry.

Thus the forthcoming debate about gay marriage is likely to be an asymmetric one. The opponents of gay marriage may be in a minority, but for many of them it is an issue about which they care. They can undoubtedly be expected to make their views known.

In contrast, while advocates of gay marriage may have the support of the majority, that majority could well prove to be a “silent” one. Most Scots may be willing to see the change made, but they may well not consider it something worth making a fuss about.

So although Scotland may have undergone a sea change in its attitudes towards same sex relationships, any move to introduce gay marriage is still unlikely to prove straightforward. Doing so would deeply offend a minority but may leave many in the majority unmoved. On the other hand, if the change were not to be made, the majority might then just begin to wonder what MSPs were afraid of.

As they listen to the calls and the clamour, perhaps MSPs would be wise to reckon that on this issue at least the only true voice on which they can safely rely is in fact the one inside themselves – their conscience.

n John Curtice is research consultant to, and Rachel Ormston a research director at, the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen), the research institute responsible for the annual Scottish Social Attitudes survey.