House Of Lords May Hear "Wrecking Amendment" To Stop Marriage Bill

The House of Lords will vote today on marriage equality. The session is scheduled to begin at 9:30AM Eastern and the vote might come some time around 2:00PM. Watch live here. Today's is the critical second reading of the bill and the BBC reports on Lord Geoffrey Dear's proposed "wrecking amendment" to stop the bill from coming to a vote:

The bill, which has been criticised by Conservative activists, is expected to face a tough passage through the Lords. If crossbench peer Lord Dear's amendment, aimed at preventing the legislation getting a second reading, were passed, it would effectively kill it. The former chief constable of West Midlands Police told peers the bill was "ill-considered" and sought to "overturn centuries of tradition".  It was "blind to the laws of unintended consequences", he added, calling homosexuals "a very small minority". Lord Dear also said: "The concept should be sent back to the drawing board. This is too serious a matter to be hurried through on a whim and in a cavalier fashion." But equalities minister Baroness Stowell of Beeston said: "For gay and lesbian couples this matters. It matters because it means the final acceptance of who they are."