Letter: Marital rights

I AM heartened that a national debate has begun about changing Scottish law to allow civil partnerships for same-sex couples to take place in religious premises and ultimately to provide equality for all, by opening up the institution of marriage to all couples.

However, I was disappointed that a recent television report failed to make an important distinction between the position of the Unitarian Church and other churches in this matter. Individual religious leaders within several churches wish to be allowed to officiate at same-sex marriages, as they do at marriages between a woman and a man, but, as a clergyman from the Scottish Episcopal Church stated, his support for equal marriage is not the official position of his church.

In contrast, the Scottish Unitarian Association (SUA), as an institution, has officially called on the Scottish Government to allow our ministers and lay celebrants to officiate at civil partnership ceremonies in our churches in Scotland.

The SUA will continue to campaign for equality in this area of Scottish law.

REV MAUD ROBINSON

Unitarians in Edinburgh

Castle Terrace, Edinburgh