Views, Visions and Values.: Clegg’s ‘dinosaur’ jibe at gay marriage opponents

Thursday 19 September 2013

Clegg’s ‘dinosaur’ jibe at gay marriage opponents

Nick Clegg talked about celebrating same-sex marriage outside Parliament.

Thu, 19 Sep 2013

Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg used his conference speech to sneer at those who wanted to maintain the traditional meaning of marriage.

He said that while he was celebrating the redefinition of marriage outside the House of Lords, “dinosaurs” were on the inside voting against it.

As the vote was taking place, Mr Clegg said the right place to be was with campaigners outside Parliament clapping along to the Abba song, ‘Dancing Queen’.

Concerns

Lib Dem grandee Shirley Williams was one of those within his own party who had raised concerns about redefining marriage.

Last year Nick Clegg’s office was forced to retract a speech, issued to the media, which called opponents of gay marriage “bigots”.

Beating a hasty retreat, Nick Clegg said he never intended to make the remark and it was a drafting error by his officials.

Respect

He wrote to the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, insisting he respects those who disagree with him over the redefinition of marriage.

But a former aide to Mr Clegg said people who want to retain traditional marriage are bigots and the Lib Dem leader should have said so.

A poll conducted in the wake of the “bigot” slur showed that most people thought it was wrong to use the word, and half thought it was a form of bullying.

At the time, Colin Hart of the Coalition for Marriage said: “Mr Clegg has badly damaged his reputation by throwing around this cheap insult.”