"Liberal Democrats:" Leader Nick Clegg stated in 2009 that his party backs legalisation. On 4 July 2009, in an article for LabourList, Clegg wrote that "although civil partnerships have been a step forward, until same sex marriage is permitted it is impossible to claim gay and straight couples are treated equally." Following this, the party's LGBT rights group LGBT+ Liberal Democrats launched a petition "Marriage Without Borders" calling for all gender restrictions on marriage and civil partnerships to be lifted, and for same-sex relationships to be recognised across Europe and internationally. The petition was run at Manchester Pride and Reading Pride in 2009, and launched online in January 2010, following an interview with Clegg in "Attitude" magazine in which he reaffirmed his commitment to equal marriage. However, this did not make it into the party's manifesto. In an interview in July 2010, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Simon Hughes confirmed that the Coalition Government was planning to open marriage to same-sex couples, saying, "It would be appropriate in Britain in 2010, 2011, for there to be the ability for civil marriage for straight people and gay people equally... The state ought to give equality. We're halfway there. I think we ought to be able to get there in this parliament".