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UPDATED: Did Queen Elizabeth oppose legalizing same-sex marriage?

UPDATED: Did Queen Elizabeth oppose legalizing same-sex marriage?

According to The Daily Mail, Queen Elizabeth does not support marriage equality and privately opposed lawmakers choice to legalize same-sex marriage in England. While the Queen supports civil unions, a friend said her Christian beliefs led her to believe marriage was a step too far.

The unnamed friend told reporters that the Queen acknowledged that she was powerless to prevent the decision, saying “I can only advise and warn.” She said the conversation happened in the middle of the debate in Parliament.

“It was the ‘marriage’ thing that she thought was wrong, because marriage ought to be sacrosanct between a man and a woman,” the friend told the Daily Mail.

Same-sex marriage was legalized in England in 2014. Civil unions were made available in 2005.

UPDATE: Buckingham Palace is pushing back against the story according to The Daily Beast.

“It seems unlikely that one of her friends would pass on her thoughts to The Mail,” a source told the website. “We’re not going to get into a did she/didn’t she,” but called the report “spurious and unsubstantiated.”

Another staffer recounted the day the Queen signed the legislation.

“When the queen signed the Royal Assent for the Equal Marriages Act, allowing gay people to marry for the first time, she put it down and said ‘Well, who’d have thought 62 years ago when I came to the throne, I’d be signing something like this? Isn’t it wonderful?’”

While the Queen notoriously maintains an air of political neutrality, she is generally recognized as a supporter of LGBT rights.

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