Cameron reaffirms support for same-sex marriage

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UK – Cameron reaffirms support for same-sex marriage on eve of Romney meeting

Jul 26 2012

They may both be members of their country’s conservative parties, but a look at the schedule of 10 Downing Street gives at least one indication that British Prime Minister David Cameron and U.S. GOP candidate Mitt Romney aren’t aligned on every issue.

On Wednesday the prime minister hosted a reception for members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community at 10 Downing in which he renewed his commitment to legal same sex civil marriage.

“I think marriage is a great institution – I think it helps people to commit, it helps people to say that they’re going to care and love for another person,” Cameron said, according to text of his remarks on his official website. “It helps people to put aside their selfish interests and think of the union that they’re forming. It’s something I feel passionately about and I think if it’s good enough for straight people like me, it’s good enough for everybody and that’s why we should have gay marriage and we will legislate for it.”

Romney has consistently said he opposes same-sex marriage, and reiterated his view in interviews following President Barack Obama’s announcement in May that he supported marriage rights for gays and lesbians.

“My position is the same on gay marriage as it’s been well, from the beginning, and that is that marriage is a relation between a man and a woman,” Romney told KCNC in May. “That’s the posture that I had as governor and I have that today.”

British law currently does not allow members of the same sex to marry, though civil partnerships are permitted nationwide.

Romney and Cameron met Thursday morning, one of a series of meetings Romney held with British political leaders on the first day of his three-country foreign swing.