Mayor of London supports marriage equality
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has become the most high-profile Conservative Party politician to release a video message in support of marriage equality.
“One of the amazing things about London is that it is not only got a declining crime rate; declining murder rate; more theatres than New York; less rainfall than Rome – but it is also one of the few places in the country where the rate of marriage is actually increasing,” Johnson said in the Out4Marriage campaign video.
“And I see absolutely no reason why that happy state should be denied to anybody in our country and that’s why I am supporting the Out4Marriage campaign.”
Johnson has seemingly undergone a change of heart on gay issues, having criticised the Labour Party in a 2000 Spectator magazine interview for its “appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools, and all the rest of it”.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Conservative Home Secretary Theresa May have also recorded Out4Marriage videos.
Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has voiced his support for same-sex marriage and held a public consultation on the issue this year. In September 2011, the government announced its intention to introduce same-sex civil marriage in England by the next general election in 2015.
