The Scottish Green Party has given its backing to full homosexual marriage and civil partnerships for heterosexual couples.
The Scottish Greens say they also want legislation to allow church ministers and other religious officials to conduct civil partnerships.
And the Party, which had two MSPs in the last Parliament, wants to “begin a dialogue with the UK Government about the need for cross-border recognition of relationships” if the definition of marriage changes north of the border.
Consult
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have given their full support to same-sex marriage while the Scottish Conservatives’ manifesto is silent on the issue.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) has pledged to consult on homosexual marriage, while Scottish Labour say they want to consult on “options” regarding the controversial move.
Scottish Parliamentary elections take place on 5 May. If marriage is redefined in Scotland, there will be pressure to enforce the redefinition throughout the UK.
Lobbying
The Scottish Green Party states in its manifesto that it wants “legislation for equal partnership – opening marriage and civil partnership up to mixed-sex and same-sex couples, and allowing religious celebrants to conduct civil partnership”.
John Deighan, the Parliamentary Officer for the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, recently opposed calls for same-sex marriage, asking: “Are we saying that, for the past few thousand years, Western civilisation has been wrong and because of the lobbying by pressure groups over the past ten years everything should now change?”
The Christian Institute has produced a briefing on the issue, arguing for retaining the definition of marriage as the lifelong union of one man to one woman.
Partisan
Commenting on the same-sex marriage manifesto calls, campaign group Equality Network said: “We are very pleased that these manifesto promises are a firm foundation for taking equal marriage forward in Scotland after the election.
“We look forward to a constructive consultation followed by legislation which we think there would be a clear majority for in the Scottish parliament.”
The taxpayer-funded Equality and Human Rights Commission in Scotland last month called on the next Scottish Government to alter the law on marriage.
It came under fire from Mr Deighan for taking a partisan line on the contentious issue.