THE petition to get Nicky Morgan (Argus, July 10) to apologise over her gay marriage vote (July 10) is misguided for two reasons.

Firstly, if a person really believes something then you can’t force their hand to go against their conscience.

You may object that such a person should not be in office with such views, but you can’t force an artificial change.

Secondly, she could hold, legitimately, that this is not an equality issue.

How so? If she believes marriage is a male/female complementarity, open to life in principle, and thus in the order of nature about how we are designed to bond and physically couple, then same-sex marriage is an impossible oxymoron.

She could still support the right for gay people to have committed relationships, celibate or otherwise, with due legal protection of property.

What is essentially different cannot be an issue of equality. This is all about what you mean by marriage.

Kevin O’Donnell, Steyning Road, Rottingdean