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'I would like to see churches be much more open to the idea of gay partnerships being celebrated in church,' said Chris Bryant
Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown wants civil partnership ceremonies at Westminster
Gordon Brown will today call for civil partnership ceremonies to be held in the Palace of Westminster as a symbol of parliament's commitment to equality.
At present, MPs, peers and their families are entitled to marry in parliament's own chapel, but like all religious venues it cannot be used for civil partnership ceremonies.
At The Speaker's conference, which is examining how to attract more minority groups and women into parliament, Brown will suggest that gay MPs and peers should have the same privilege but in another part of the Palace of Westminster.
As the Church of England does not recognise civil partnership as equivalent to marriage it means the Chapel of St Mary in parliament could not be used, but Chris Bryant, the gay MP, now Europe minister, has said that gay "weddings" should be celebrated in churches.
"All my friends who have entered into a civil partnership refer to it as their 'marriage' or their 'wedding' so the most important issue is that nobody should be discriminated against because of their sexuality," he told Time Out.
"I would like to see churches be much more open to the idea of gay relationships or partnerships being celebrated in church."
