Same-Sex Marriage was NOT passed in the UK

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The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill will now go into Commons Committee Stage and is likely to progress to the House of Lords after the Queen's Speech, expected in early May.
There will be a tough battle in the House of Lords. The size of the Commons majority seen last night was much larger than for most normal Government business – making it very difficult for peers to suggest that the Bill should be rejected.


I lifted this very useful 101 from a Homosexual web site, Corrected a few very minor mistakes and added a bit.

Same-Sex Marriage was NOT passed in the UK; UK legislative procedure 101

The first thing that needs to be mentioned, is that the Bill that came before Parliament is NOT a bill that would affect the whole of the UK. This Bill, if passed will affect only England and Wales; both Scotland and Northern Ireland have devolved legislative bodies that would pass there own legislation on this matter. In Scotland, there are currently plans to bring in same-sex marriage, but there are NO plans to bring any such bill to the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Now, here’s where it get a little complicated. In the UK Parliament, there are two houses. The Lower house is the House of Commons, and the Upper house is the House of Lords.

The House of Commons is full of elected Members of Parliament (MPs) and the House of Lords is full of unelected Lords and Ladies ( and bishops from the Church of England).

Due to the fact that they are completely unelected, “Parliament Acts” have been passed. These Acts mean that the House of Lords do not have the power to completely reject a Bill. If a Bill us voted down in the House of Lords, it can be reintroduced in the next Parliamentary session (the next year) and they are forced to approve the Bill.

Now, for a Bill to become a law, there is a pretty strict procedure that it needs to follow. The vast majority of Bills, and the Marriage (same-sex couples) bill is one of them, will firstly be brought to the House of Commons. There are five stages that a Bill must go through in the House of Commons:

1) The First Reading:- this is where the name of the Bill is read out in Parliament. There’s no debate here at all. At most someone will make a 10 minute speech. There is then a vote. The same-sex marriage bill has passed this stage.

2) The Second Reading:- This is what happened yesterday. There is a big debate on the broad principles of the Bill. A vote is then taken. The Same-Sex marriage Bill passed this.

3) The Committee Stage:- This is a detailed look into the technical aspects of the Bill by a committee. The broad morality of the Bill will not be considered but witnesses are brought before the committee to give evidence into the Bill’s technicalities. The committee will then make any amendments necessary.

4) The Report Stage:- The committee reports back to the House of its finishing and any amendments it has made. The house then votes on those amendments. If the amendments are rejected, then the the Bill goes back to committee to reconsider.

5) The Third Reading:- This is normally ceremonial. The name of the bill is read out again and another vote is taken. If a bill has passed all the other stages, it is unlikely to fail here. (But it CAN)

If a Bill passes all the above stages it is then passed to the House of Lords. The Bill goes through the same stages in the House of Lords. However, if the committee in the Lords makes amendments ( and they are approved in the Lords’ report stage) it is passed back to the House of Commons for them to vote on again.

If the Lords add amendments the Government dislikes it may try to force the Bill through by using the "Parliament Act" overruling the House of Lords Amendments.

Once a Bill has passed the Lords, it is then passed to the Queen to receive “royal assent”, which means the Queen’s signature. Although she does technically have the power to reject a Bill, it won’t happen. (Interesting Point; will She?)

As the Same-sex marriage Bill has only got up to the Second Reading in the House of Commons, it still has a very very long way to go. Particularly because, as I’ve mentioned, there are CoE bishops in the Lords who are guaranteed to vote against (pray they will ,no guarantee ).

To conclude, STOP SAYING THE BILL HAS PASSED.