More than 50,000 people replied to a consultation on full marriage equality laws – which is more responses prompted by any other issue put before the public in Scotland.

As a result, Scotland is likely to have marriage equality by the end of 2013 – a full two years of the expected start date of similar laws in England and Wales.

The Scottish government is analysing feedback and is expected to publish a draft bill in the spring.

Meanwhile, in England and Wales, consultation is yet to start after being put back twice by the government, but is scheduled to begin in March.

Opinion polls predict the majority of Scots support equal marriage, including the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey in 2010 which reported 61% support against just 19% opposition. The survey canvassed all major faiths and political parties in Scotland.

Meanwhile, controversy surrounds the move in England, where the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, wrote a lengthy comment opposing full marriage equality in the Daily Telegraph.

He argues marriage is not a secular matter for the government to legislate on, but a matter between a man and a woman and not same-sex couples.

Dr Sentamu has been criticised for his ‘outmoded’ and ‘archaic’ belief by supporters of full equality in marriage.

The protests culminated in 50 demonstrators from the University of York’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group forming a picket line outside York Minster.

“Whilst the Archbishop may say that it is not the place of the government to define what marriage is, I would argue that it is the state’s responsibility to ensure that all UK citizens can enjoy equal rights regardless of their sexual orientation,” said a spokesman.

Dr Sentamu seems to have stirred up a hornet’s nest with his comments – and as Andrew Brown writes in The Guardian, he should know better because the Bible may have been written in age where gay marriage was an abomination, but he comes from modern Britain where cultural attitudes are more accommodating.