Churches to host same-sex weddings under Cameron-backed compromise David Cameron says he is in favour of gay marriage, but insists no synagogue, church or mosque will be forced to carry out such a service. Churches and religious organisations will be able to host same-sex weddings under gay marriage legislation due to be unveiled next week. The prime minister is backing the proposal, which could lead to open battles with traditionalist Conservative MPs as well as other opponents of the change, such as the Church of England and the Catholic hierarchy. David Cameron is supporting a compromise through what is known as a permissive clause that allows gay marriages to be held in places of worship but does not oblige religious organisations to hold same-sex weddings. Cameron said: "I'm a massive supporter of marriage and I don't want gay people to be excluded from a great institution. But let me be absolutely 100% clear, if there is any church or any synagogue or any mosque that doesn't want to have a gay marriage it will not, absolutely must not, be forced to hold it. That is absolutely clear in the legislation. Also let me make clear, this is a free vote for members of parliament but personally I will be supporting it. A government spokesman said: "We are committed to bringing equal civil marriage forward and the consultation results will be announced next week. We are very clear that religious organisations must be protected and that none will be forced to conduct same-sex marriage. EU law is very clear that this is the case and we will additionally bring in very strong legal locks to ensure that this is watertight. Although the UK's main churches oppose the reform, other faiths, including the Quakers, Unitarians and liberal Judaism, support marriage rights for gay couples and have said they would like to conduct the ceremonies. Welcoming the government's announcement, the coalition campaigning for a change in the law, Out4Marriage, said: "We are glad that they appear, like us, to believe in religious freedom, that churches must have the freedom to decide themselves whether to allow gay couples to marry. We eagerly await the full details of this historic change in the law next week. Meanwhile, the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said that under the new law, heterosexual couples would have fewer rights than gay couples. He said: "Despite proclaiming that the legalisation of same-sex civil marriage is driven by the principle of equality, David Cameron is expected to retain the inequality of the current legal ban on heterosexual civil partnerships. Opposite-sex couples are legally prohibited from having a civil partnership and David Cameron intends to keep it that way. This will mean gay couples will soon have legal privileges over heterosexual couples. There will be two forms of official state recognition for lesbian and gay couples: the present system of civil partnerships and the new system of civil marriages. Heterosexual couples will have only one option: marriage. They will be subjected to legal inequality and discrimination. This is very wrong. I support straight equality.