Consultation sees 50,000 responses

More than 50,000 responses were submitted to a consultation on same-sex marriage before it closed yesterday.

The Scottish Government began to gather views in September, asking if marriage should be allowed for gay people through a civil or religious ceremony. Same-sex couples can enter a civil partnership which carries full legal rights, but the ceremony cannot be conducted in a church or religious premises.

The Church of Scotland and the Catholic Church in Scotland are opposed to the proposals. Equal Marriage campaigners say they have submitted over 18,000 responses to the consultation.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The government will now analyse the responses and consider what next steps to take.

“As was made clear, while we have expressed our initial view, we have given an assurance that all opinions will be listened to. The analysis of the responses will be published in the spring.”