Redefining marriage is a “very big issue” for society and it should be put to a public vote, Britain’s biggest selling newspaper has said.
The Westminster Government is expected to launch a consultation on how, not whether, to redefine marriage imminently.
But an editorial in today’s Sun, which has a circulation of 2.7 million, says: “This is a very big issue for our whole society. And one over which sincere people have different opinions.
Referendum
“Why don’t we pause for three months, ignore our mixed bag of politicians and let the people decide with a referendum?”
Earlier this week a commentator warned that proposals to redefine marriage are being pushed by a liberal elite who want to feel superior over the rest of us.
Brendan O’Neill said homosexual marriage is a tool of the elite – a litmus test of cosmopolitan values – rather than a demand of the people.
Snobbery
It is a way for its backers to “look down with undiluted snobbery” on people who believe marriage should be between a man and a woman, he wrote.
Also this week a senior Guardian journalist said it “will be wise” for the Government not to change the definition of marriage.
Fundamental
In an article entitled “noisy bishops are not always wrong” Michael White, an assistant editor at the Guardian, said “instinct” told him “it will be wise to retain a legal distinction between marriage and civil partnership”.
Last month Ann Widdecombe, the former Conservative MP, said the people should be asked for their view on redefining marriage before David Cameron ploughs ahead with “the most fundamental change to society in centuries”.