Madam, – I have just finished reading the article relating to the gathering of the Grandparents Association at Knock Shrine (September 14th). My husband and I are grandparents, which is a wonderful experience.
I also read about the controversy over civil partnerships and gay marriage mentioned by Cardinal Brady in his address. He said: “Any society which diminishes the value of the family based on marriage between a man and a woman diminishes the very foundation of society itself.”
In our family our son is gay, and his partner belongs to our family.
I am pro same-sex marriage and do not see that it would diminish “the very foundation of society itself”.
Society does the diminishing itself very nicely already, with child abuse, abusive partners, infidelity, abandonment of children, interfamilial murder etc.
People who want a same-sex marriage will have the same sense of commitment and responsibility as any heterosexual couple. And by marrying they will commit themselves to family life, within their wider families and the family they are creating by marrying, even if there are to be no children.
There are heterosexual couples who by virtue of circumstances or design do not have children. Do those marriages not count or contribute? The issues concerning children are not resolved in the Civil Partnership Bill, and it is of the utmost importance that they should be.
The Cardinal, I am certain, is aware that there are a number of grandparents who accept their gay children’s partnerships and their children. Please get over the notion that giving the LGBT community the right to marriage will threaten this wonderful society we have. – Yours, etc,