Alice Arnold: now I'm free of BBC, I can speak up for gay marriage Referring to debates on same-sex marriage in Parliament, Arnold said: "It brings out some horrible stuff, doesn't it? And it brings out some very unkind thoughts and expressions, I think. That is quite disconcerting when an argument comes up about it and you suddenly realise that people do not treat you equally and don't think of you equally and it is hurtful. Arnold, a frequent contributor to Twitter, the social networking website, lists herself as an "Ex-radio 4 [sic] newsreader. Earlier this month, she suggested that women of a "certain age and appearance" struggled to be seen on television as she criticised a culture that she said "valued the shape of their legs over their intellect." Arnold, who lives in west London, said equality was a "constant struggle" in a world that "prizes looks and youth so highly." In her first post for Telegraph Wonder Women yesterday, she said the BBC had taken a positive step to get more women on air. She told the radio station that she and Balding, 41, her partner of 10 years, wanted to get married if the laws were changed. If they did marry, she said they would throw a large party for family and friends as Balding "absolutely loves it." "We have always said that we are civil partners, not that we are married, because we are not married because we are not allowed to be married," she said. We just want to be able to say that we are married. 'Civilly partnered' is a terrible thing. Same-sex marriage has been fasttracked by David Cameron despite strong opposition within his party and from some religious groups. Earlier this month, more than 1,000 priests, a quarter of all Roman Catholic clergy in England and Wales, signed a letter to The Daily Telegraph arguing that the change could open the door to new discrimination against Christians. A Commons vote on the Equal Marriage Bill is planned before mid-February. Ministers expect the legislation to take up to a year to get through Parliament.