Christine Odone writes in the UK Telegraph:

When civil partnerships were introduced in 2004, I cheered...

... But the gay marriage lobby does not think this enough. Fairness is all very well: what they seek, however, is equality, including in terms of access to marriage. And those who oppose this, on whatever grounds, are accused of anti-gay propaganda. It doesn’t matter that I’ve publicly urged the Catholic Church to recognise its debt to gays, or that I count Peter Tatchell as a hero and a friend: ever since I questioned the Coalition’s plans to legalise gay marriage, in an article for this paper, I’ve been attacked as an unjust, homophobic and irrational clone of Rick Santorum.

... Tories were once stalwart supporters of traditional marriage; but this Prime Minister talks of making gay marriage legal and straight marriage costly. (Tax benefits are an incentive for couples, even with children, to live apart.) The one minister who champions heterosexual marriage, Iain Duncan Smith, has yet to see his proposal for a marriage tax break come into effect.

This is a terrible shame. Marriage may be a force for the good, but for some gay people, it has become a fortress they must storm. They argue that, in its present state, marriage discriminates and excludes. The ancient and much-loved edifice must be broken into – or simply broken.