Coalition for Marriage

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Coalition for Marriage

Type	Campaign organization
Founded	2012
Area served	United Kingdom
Website	http://c4m.org.uk/

The Coalition for Marriage, often abbreviated to C4M, is a Christian campaign group in the United Kingdom which opposes UK government proposals to allow marriages for same-sex couples.

Activities

The coalition set up a petition against allowing civil marriage for same-sex couples, which has been signed by over 625,000 people. However, the petition has been criticised by Pink News who claim the Coalition for Marriage's petition allows multiple signatures from the same person, using the same address, and does not verify whether the person is based in the United Kingdom or if the email addresses used exists. This allows for manipulation and distortion of vote results.

The Women's Institute prevented the group advertising in its magazine, stating that it could offend members.

In response to the creation of the Coalition for Marriage, a group supporting same-sex marriage was created by gay couple Conor Marron and James Lattimore, named the Coalition for Equal Marriage.

In May 2012, the coalition and religious blogger "Archbishop Cranmer" accused the Advertising Standards Agency of bias after the chairman, Lord Smith of Finsbury, who is himself openly gay, recorded and released a video for the Out4Marriage campaign, a campaign for marriage equality whereby supporters of same-sex marriage create and upload videos to YouTube and other video-sharing sites, affirming their support. "Cranmer" called on Lord Smith to resign from his post, while an ASA spokesperson refused to dismiss Smith, but did agree there was a conflict of interest and he would therefore not vote.

Links to conservative Christian groups

The Coalition for Marriage is a not-for-profit public limited company whose directors have links to high-profile conservative Christian groups.

C4M director Colin Hart is director of the Christian Institute, an evangelical Christian pressure group.

C4M director Nola Leach is head of the pro-life organization Christian Action Research and Education (CARE).

C4M director Donald Horrocks is the head of public affairs for the Evangelical Alliance.

C4M director Andrea Minichiello Williams, a barrister, is a founder of pressure group Christian Concern and is the CEO of the Christian Legal Centre.

The coalition also shares the same address as the Christian Medical Fellowship, a pro-life group who have published papers claiming to show miracle cures for controversial conditions including demon-possession. The CMF has been accused of homophobia by trying to link homosexuality and paedophilia in an article using evangelical views in the same context as scientific evidence and they have also been accused by Hindu leaders at the House of Lords Select Committee on Religious Offences of calling minority religions and Hinduism false religions.

Campaigning

The Advertising Standards Authority is investigating a Coalition for Marriage advertisement in Country Life Magazine which claimed that 70% of people oppose same-sex marriage after accusations the advertisements were "misleading" and "offensive". The poll was commissioned by Catholic Voices.

The sign-up age for the petition was revealed as 16 after a Catholic school presentation in South London by the Catholic Education Service upset some students, prompting threats of a counter campaign to the religious opposition outlined in the presentation, including wearing gay pride badges and a poster campaign based off the Stonewall "Some people are gay – get over it" posters. The presentation insisted that gay marriage and civil partnerships were unnatural and encouraged the students as young as 11 to do their duty to do "all we can to ensure that the true meaning of marriage is not lost for future generations" and sign up to the Coalition for Marriage petition. This prompted BHA Faith Schools campaigner Richy Thompson and the British Humanist Association to accuse the Catholic Education Service of an illegal political campaign in 359 schools where the presentation is to be shown in breach of the Equality Act and using children as tools for their agenda, which they had claimed is to protect children.

In January 2013, Sarah Newton, Conservative MP for Truro and Falmouth in Cornwall, accused the coalition of using her photograph on campaign leaflets without her permission. Newton complained that constituents had contacted her in a distressed manner over the language used and being led to believe she endorsed the coalitions opinions. She announced she was seeking legal advice over the "misrepresentation". Anne Milton, Conservative MP for Guildford also criticised the Coalition in late January 2013 for using her image in campaign literature in boroughs of Surrey. Milton explained that she had contacted the Coalition for Marriage twice and requested they stop, but that they had continued using her image in their campaign leaflets. Responding to The Huffington Post, Dan Byles, MP for North Warwickshire, said he had also had been contacted by his constituents over the misleading leaflets, again under the mistaken belief that he supported the Coalition for Marriage and the language used in their campaign. Byles said that while the leaflets don't explicitly claim to be from him, "they are very open to misrepresentation." A spokesman for the Coalition responded by saying that it was standard practice to use photographs of MPs on campaign literature, and also stating that only 3 MPs of the 650 had complained. One of the leaflets obtained by The Huffington Post made claims of the proposed legislation being "undemocratic", of people being punished for "believing in traditional marriage", and claiming that many gay people oppose "redefining marriage". The last of which is in direct contrast to a Pink News poll, which found 98% of their readership support having equal marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

See also

• Same-sex marriage in the United Kingdom
• Civil partnership in the United Kingdom

External links

• Coalition for Marriage