The current debate on legalising gay marriage was sparked by one of the more memorable speeches of this Government, when Prime Minister David Cameron said “I don’t support gay marriage in spite of being a conservative. I support gay marriage because I am a conservative.”

What has been missing from the debate since that speech has been a convincing, measured discussion from the political right on what he meant. Until now, that is. Today the Policy Exchange, a leading conservative think tank thank, has published What’s In A Name? Is there a case for equal marriage? Don’t be fooled by the question mark in the title. This report represents the best and most carefully considered case for equal marriage from a conservative (with a small ‘c’) perspective so far.

-full blog post at  UK Human Rights Blog.

The full (61 page) Policy Exchange report in PDF format is  at  What’s In A Name? Is there a case for equal marriage?

Contents are:

About the Authors       2
Contents           3
Acknowledgments       4
Introduction       5
1  A Brief History of Marriage     8
2  Why marriage matters            12
3  Is there a conservative case for equal marriage?   16
4  Equal Marriage as Equality Before The Law?     28
5  Evaluating the arguments against equal marriage    33
6  The International Experience      45
7  The Practical Implications of Equal Marriage     51

Conclusion   58