The Implementation of Same Sex Marriage in 2013 : Cameron’s modernising social agenda in the Conservative Party since 2005

Abstract

While the French Socialist government introduced same sex marriage in 2013, it was the Conservative Lib Dem coalition which implemented a similar measure at the same time in Britain. It was a breakthrough initiated by David Cameron, who took over a highly homophobic Conservative Party that had implemented section 28 in 1988 during the Thatcher years. Although Cameron benefited from cross-party support in the House of Commons, he had to face criticisms within his own party, which had not completely made a departure from the legacy of Thatcherism. This paper aims to explain how Cameron managed to fuse the idea of same sex marriage into the Conservative ideology by combining the notions of marriage, morality, family and individual liberty, and how the Lib Dems supported the radical measure, while carefully claiming their differences with their Conservative allies in the prospect of the next 2015 general election.