Wannabe Caius Politics out for controversy over limp gay debate

All for a bit of publicity

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The newly rejuvenated Caius Politics Society is dragging equal marriage into the debating arena yet again. 

Reopening what Parliament settled almost two years ago, the new committee created the debate within an hour of their appointment this term.

The motion is: “This College does not condone gay marriage.”

Battling the future: Gonville and Caius?

But it has unsurprisingly sparked controversy.

One post on the event page was so popular the organisers wiped it from the wall. Both the society’s Facebook page and event page were taken down for a period after abuse got too much.

The Committee restored the pages but stressed comments had been disabled on the grounds that same-sex marriage was still a contentious issue because “progressive” countries like Germany and Denmark have not adopted the practice.

<3 CUSU

The statement also quotes a 2013 survey by YouGov where only 54% of people supported equal marriage legislation.

9 in 10 students support equal marriage: clearly a topic Cantabs disagree wildly on.

I feel you

Eddie Angel, CUSU LGBT+ Communications Officer said: “Debating the issue of same-sex marriage, which in a poll conducted by BBC radio in 2014 had the backing of 68% of those surveyed, is quite frankly unnecessary.

“The fact that there will presumably be people invited to argue against the right of same-sex couples to marry in the first week of LGBT+ History Month seems to me simply insulting.”

Stephen Fry said he was proud to be in a country where he can freely marry in the Union debate on Thursday

But one Trinity second-year thinks this is another instance of the “nonsense” no-platform debate which has dogged Cambridge recently.

He argued: “Cambridge deserves better than self-satisfied declarations of moral outrage whenever someone expresses a different opinion.”

The Caius Politics committee released this comment: “While we understand that the debate has aroused a certain level of controversy, it should be remembered that at the time the law was passed only 54% of people supported it (according to a YouGov poll of May 2013).

“In addition, although gay marriage is legal in the United Kingdom, even in Germany and Denmark, considered progressive countries, gay marriage is still not legal.”

The jury is out, then: are they savvy publicity fiends or genuinely just a decade behind?