By backing gay marriage we wanted to raise the status of marriage for all

I’m terribly upset that he should feel this way.

As one of the drafters of the original Liberal Democrat proposals for marriage equality who identifies as a gay man but is also a Christian saved by grace, I ensured that all religious views on this matter

should be accommodated. Those faith groups that wish to celebrate same-sex marriages to their adherents should be allowed to do so, and those that don’t should be protected in holding that view point.

If any LGBT+ individual wants to force any faith group to change their position through courts rather than dialogue, discussion and love I would be first and loudest to shout them down.

However, the fact is that Mr Ferguson cannot accept all marriage as defined by the law of the land in the rest of these Isles, which is sad when those who wanted to change those laws respected his point of

view.

In all honesty I never wanted to dumb down marriage to become civil partnerships.

I know not all LGBT+ couples want to enter into such a heteronormative arrangement, although I do advocate that civil partnerships should be available those mixed sex couples who are turned off by the idea of marriage.

The whole essence and drive behind the campaign for equal marriage and equal civil partnership is instead to raise up the status of marriage and to celebrate everyone’s love.

Stephen Glenn, Chair Northern Ireland Liberal Democrats