The fifth aspect of New Labour ideology is a desire for consensus within One Nation, in which acceptance of multiculturalism and tolerance of ‘difference’ (within limits) prevails. This message is omnipresent in the material surrounding the legislation. Lesbians and gay men become understood as another constituency that needs to be managed. This is ‘their’ law and it is part of the government’s ‘gay agenda’. The Act is aimed at social inclusion of this group and certainly not at rectifying injustices more broadly. This is one of the ways in which the British approach can be distinguished from the French ‘solution’ of the Facte Civil de Solidiarite (PaCS).[125] The PaCS can be ideologically situated firmly within the
French conception of republicanism and universality.[126] It is justified as a universal status to which all are equally entitled to participate on the basis of being members of the Republic. It is the antithesis of multiculturalism, which the French consistently describe as part of an ‘Anglo-Saxon’ mentality, which inevitably fragments social solidarity.[127]
By contrast, within the United Kingdom, the Civil Partnership Act is explicitly and specifically designed for one group — lesbians and gays — who are (problematically) constructed as another element within the multicultural mosaic. There is no expectation that the needs of other constituencies — such as platonic home sharers — can be solved by this legislation. These other groups must wait their turn.