Outraged members of
the gay community protested outside York Minster cathedral today -
in opposition to the comments by the city's Archbishop, Dr John
Sentamu.
Having taken palce
earlier today, the event was backed by human rights campaigner
Peter Tatchell.
It comes after
Sentamu critiqued Prime Minister David Cameron's push for gay
equality - arguing that the traditional values of marriage being
between a man and a woman cannot simply be "changed
overnight".
"I don't think it is the role of the state to define what marriage
is," he said. "It is set in tradition and history and you can't
just [change it] overnight, no matter how powerful you are."
The rally has been organised by the University of York's LGBT
group, who wrote an open letter explaining their reasoning.
It said: "Whilst the Archbishop may say that it is not the place
of the government to define what marriage is, I would argue that it
is the state's responsibility to ensure that all UK citizens can
enjoy equal rights regardless of their sexual orientation."
According to the BBC, the Archbishop's office said it had no
comment to make.
The government will open a consultation on the issue of same-sex
marriages in March.
Photo from Wikipedia.
