POLL REACTION:GAY RIGHTS campaigners have called on the Government to legislate for marriage between same- sex couples following yesterday's Irish Times/Behaviour Attitudes social poll, which shows a large majority of people in support of such a move.
It has found that 67 per cent of people believe gay couples should be allowed to marry, while 60 per cent do not believe that civil partnerships will undermine the institution of marriage.
The poll on Sex, Sin and Society” also indicates that people have adopted a much more liberal attitude towards personal relationships and sexual behaviour. It was conducted last month on a national sample of just over 1,000 people at 100 sampling points.
Moninne Griffith, director of Marriage Equality, said the findings show the Irish public were “keenly aware that the current exclusion of lesbian and gay couples from civil marriage is deeply unfair and doesn’t make any sense in today’s Ireland”.
She also said the finding that 91 per cent of people would not think less of a person if they were lesbian or gay was highly significant.
“Put simply, being gay or lesbian isn’t such a big taboo and neither is the subject of gay and lesbian couples getting married. The Irish people are clearly ready for it, so the question must be asked, why does the Irish Government persist in denying the human right to marry?”
The Government has ruled out such a move on the basis that it would require a referendum which, it says, would be too divisive.
Green Party justice spokesman Trevor Sargent TD said it was inevitable the issue would come back on to the political agenda.
“Now that civil partnership legislation has been introduced, which delivers rights and protection across a range of areas, we must look to the next step forward in Irish equality – that of gay marriage – and the Green Party remains committed to achieving this,” he said.
A majority (57 per cent) believe cohabitation before marriage results in more stable unions, while 79 per cent do not think that sex before marriage is immoral.
However, the Iona Institute – which promotes marriage and religion in society – said the public’s view that cohabitation leads to more stable marriages was not reflected in studies on the issue.
It quoted latest research which it said indicated that couples who lived together before they married were a third more likely to divorce than those who did not.
“In no society has increased cohabitation been associated with lower divorce and separation, and Ireland is no different,” the institute said.
The institute’s director David Quinn said: “The fact that a majority of people believe something that is actually the opposite of the truth is deeply worrying. If people believe that living together first will lead to more stable marriages, then cohabitation is only going to increase and so will later marriage breakdown as cohabitation is associated with higher levels of divorce.”
Mr Quinn accepted that the poll findings showed Irish people were more liberal in their attitudes towards sex and relationships but he said this was associated with “growing family breakdown” and increasing numbers of children being raised without the benefit of a married mother and father.
