UK Quakers Approve Gay Marriage

Quakers in the United Kingdom voted to approve same-sex marriage on Friday and called on the government to provide full and equal marriage rights to same-sex couples, reports The Times. The approval represents a first for a mainstream religious group in Britain, where same-sex civil partnerships, but not same-sex marriages, are allowed.

More than 1,600 Quakers voted at their annual meeting in York "to treat same sex committed relationships in the same way as opposite sex marriages.” However, the Quakers also agreed that the question of legal recognition by the government is “secondary,” and declined to require Quaker registrars to disobey the law by marrying same-sex couples. Quaker meetings will be urged to petition the government to change relevant laws to recognize same-sex couples.

In the immediate future, the Quakers plan to rewrite their prayer book to give same-sex
couples the same status as married heterosexual couples.