Thirty-fourth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland this referendum is equality under the Constitution and anything else is extraneous." However, some religious-affiliated groups were in favour of the referendum. In January 2015, the Church of Ireland LGBT group "Changing Attitude Ireland" welcomed the publication of the wording of the Marriage Equality Referendum. Dr Richard O’Leary, the organisation's chair, said that marriage should be "available to couples without distinction as to their sex", just as civil marriage "may be contracted by two persons without distinction as to their race or religion". On 7 May, at a "Changing Attitude Ireland" event, former Archdeacon of Dublin, Gordon Linney said "We
Theresa May page of "The Times". May held the office of Minister for Women and Equality in parallel to her office of Home Secretary from 2010 to September 2012, when this role was taken over by Maria Miller. May's appointment as Minister for Women and Equality was criticised by some members of the LGBT rights movement, because she had voted against lowering the age of consent (in 1998) and against greater adoption rights for homosexuals (in 2002), though she had voted in favour of civil partnerships. May later stated, during an appearance on the BBC's "Question Time" in 2010, that she had