Quakers 'to allow gay marriages'

A Christian denomination that supports same-sex unions is expected to decide today whether to perform marriage ceremonies for gay couples.

The Quaker church, also known as The Religious Society of Friends, already offers religious blessings to couples in civil partnerships and are likely to extend this to same-sex weddings, the BBC reported.

If they reach a consensus at their yearly meeting in York, England it is understood the Quakers will then ask the UK government to change the law, which does not recognise gay marriage.

The issue of active homosexuality and the consecration of a gay bishop has divided the worldwide Anglican communion, with the Archbishop of Canterbury in England suggesting a "two-track" church was a possibility.

In a newspaper interview earlier this month, the Bishop of Rochester, Dr Michael Nazir-Ali, said homosexuals should "repent and be changed".