David Burrowes MP: ‘I am a supporter of traditional marriage. Get over it!’

So, I got a reply from the homophobic bigot of an MP, David Burrowes. 

I was also contacted by a journalist for The Enfield Gazette, as David Burrowes in an MP for Enfield-Southgate, she wrote an article about my letter to him, his reply and my opinions on it, which was published in The Enfield Gazette.

When Sally Met Sally also published an article about David Burrowes' reply to my letter.

In my letter I stated that "Pro-marriage means you believe in marriage and want as many people as possible to participate in it; so how is excluding a whole group of people from the marital institution pro-marriage?"
Along with a lot of political waffle that didn't get to the point, he said "I am a supporter of traditional marriage. Get over it!"
Doesn't he realise what 'traditional' marriage means?
Women are slaves, if they're not virgins when married they can be beaten, fathers can sell their daughters for cows and goats, interracial relationships were illegal.
Does he support these archaic 18th century values?

Paraphrasing and playing on the LGBT charity Stonewall's famous 'Some people are gay, get over it' slogan seems to be rather childish. Couldn't he be more original?

He did not answer my question: "I would be extremely happy if you could explain to me how you believe you are not anti-gay".
Looking at his voting record, he seems to want to deny lesbian and gay people rights and does not think they should be protected against from homophobic hatred. As he voted against outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 2007 and to prevent lesbians from having access to fertility treatment in 2008. Then against outlawing incitement to homophobic hatred in 2009. He doesn't appear to have voted on the Equality Act 2010 (which consolidated and extended the various bits of legislation on discrimination). He voted against same-sex marriage in 2013.

Come on Burrowes, admit it, you just don't like the gays.

Pro-Marriage But Not Anti-Gay: I Don't Think So

So I click open my emails and find an email news update from PinkNews about the MP David Burrowes. He quoted that "I am not anti-gay just pro-marriage". I found this statement ridiculous and clicked onto the link to read the full article. Basically the MP was saying that he supported civil partnerships but did not approve of same-sex couples entering into marriage because it is 'for a man and a woman'. 

"I support civil partnerships so much so that I do not see the need to change marriage to encompass same-sex couples when it has always existed as a distinctive relationship between a man and a woman" David Burrowes.

Well I proceeded to argue with his point and sent him an email explaining why you cannot be pro-marriage but only for straight people and not anti-gay.

I researched his voting record only to discover he voted for/against:

• Against outlawing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in 2007
• To prevent lesbians from having access to fertility treatment in 2008
• Against outlawing incitement to homophobic hatred in 2009
• He doesn't appear to have voted on the Equality Act (which consolidated and extended the various bits of legislation on discrimination) in 2010
• Against same-sex marriage in 2013

So it appears that he doesn't want LGBT people to be able to get married or have children and he thinks that discriminating against them is fine but he is not anti-gay. This does not make any sense whatsoever. 

I emailed him my angry yet well-mannered composition of ideas and beliefs and then sent it to PinkNews. They said it was a "strongly written letter" and posted it on their website. 

I am now waiting for David's reply, may he send one. I looked him up on Twitter and discovered that he believes: "There must be safeguards for religious freedom in the Same Sex Marriage Bill. And a referendum".

I informed David that "I am 17 and I identify as lesbian. I am one of the future generation. I believe everyone should be allowed to marry if they desire to, including the LGBT community".

I went on to question: "How is their (LGBT people's) love any less deserving or real than straight people's? The only thing that undermines marriage is divorce, something straight people seem to be very good at".

I was annoyed by his use of the term 'pro-marriage'. Someone who is pro-marriage would believe strongly in the marital institution and want as many people as possible to take part it in, so how is excluding a whole group of people from the marital institution pro-marriage?

Using the 'I support marriage' argument in an equal marriage bill is not rational. If you support marriage you must believe it is best for everyone. Claiming you are 'pro-marriage' but not 'anti-gay' is like saying you are vegetarian but don't mind eating pork when it suits you. 

Come on David, think about it; are you really in favour of civil partnerships? Are you really not 'anti-gay'? I don't think so...you're just a bigot covering your homophobia with pro-marriage blankets.

I later found that When Sally Met Sally had published a similar article on their website and I contacted them and they have arranged to publish my blog posts/for me to write posts to be published on their website. Woo!