David's Daily Diversions

Violating the National Trust

Could there be anything more traditional than the National Trust? It owns many of the great historic properties in England. Forty-four National Trust properties are licensed for weddings. (Weddings in this country may only be performed in churches, Registry offices, and licensed venues.)

Now every NT property will be available for weddings. Well, not real weddings. The National Trust has teamed up with Pink Weddings, a company that organises gay "marriages". Five properties in various parts of the country will be the first to host "committment ceremonies". Local council sponsored committment ceremonies are due to be replaced with the Government's legally recognised "civil partnerships" next year. However, since they aren't technically weddings, they will not be confined to particular places.

It has been acknowledged that the use of NT properties may be unpopular with the 3 million members of the Trust. But you can't let 3 million people stand in the way of the liberals who have found their way onto the Trust's governing Council. Only half of the Council is elected by the members and the other half is appointed from "kindred bodies". These bodies are laid down in an Act of Parliament.

Members may be finding out about this in the newspaper. It has not been mentioned on the NT's website. I doubt they have received any sort of official notice. However, it is promoted with a full page on the Pink Weddings website (link intentionally omitted).