THE BRITISH INQUISITION

Another attack on our culture has recently taken place at the Liverpool Register Office.

A picture of a newly wedded couple signing the register and another picture of Romeo and Juliet on a swing have been removed. The claim was that the pictures were offensive to homosexuals.

This is in anticipation of the new civil partnership ceremonies for homosexuals which come into effect next month.

Instead, two landscape paintings costing £3,500 have been put up.

Janet Taubman, a superintendent registrar, said:

‘We had two very beautiful pictures up before but they would be unsuitable for the new services. They were innocent pictures but the new paintings are less likely to offend same-sex couples.’

Carol Codd, who helped choose the replacements said:

‘The landscape fits in because its neutral and its very difficult for people not to like a landscape. They also don’t point to one particular ceremony.’

However, Tris Reid-Smith, editor of the Pink paper, a homosexual magazine, said:

‘It’s a complete waste of money and a travesty to remove a perfectly good painting. I am not in any way offended by a painting of a heterosexual couple. Gay people are not put off by heterosexual couples getting married.’