Hot on the heels of Gordon Brown's promises on full LGBT inclusion, we have a variation on the same theme from a less exalted government source: the openly gay Europe minister, Chris Bryant. Just as interesting as the content of his remarks, is the context: a specialist event in which officials from the Foreign office met with representatives of Stonewall, the UK's leading gay rights organization.
The openly gay MP, told us: "I never thought that Ireland would introduce legislation on this [gay marriage] for the reasons others have cited about religion, but it is happening. So I am optimistic. I think in the next 10 years we will see it across the whole of Europe.
In the headline remarks, Bryant forecast that there will be "gay marriage" right across Europe within 10 years. One caveat is that he does not distinguish between full (civil) marriage and civil unions or civil partnerships. On that basis, I believe he is being pessimistic: marriage or unions are already routine across most of Western Europe (Italy is he major exception), and are already starting to spread into parts of Eastern Europe.
One of the interesting parts of the report for me, was the insight into what the British government is already doing to advance the cause of LGBT equality globally, through its offices around the world:
