‘Like Race’? Is Religious Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage Analogous to Racism?

Abstract This article seeks to explore the question of whether religious opposition to same-sex marriage should be regarded as analogous to racism. In interrogating this question, it is observed that whereas it is now more than a decade since the right to have a civil marriage was first afforded to same-sex couples in England, the continued refusal of the Church of England to solemnize same-sex relationships is viewed by some as being akin to the social evil of racism. Whilst mindful of the dangers of equating religiously motivated objections to same-sex unions with racism, it is argued that increasing reference to the ‘like race’ analogy in this context may, in certain circumstances, be both desirable and inevitable.