Madam, — I echo the sentiments of Laura Harmon (June 30th) who accurately described the recently published Civil Partnership Bill as a “half measure”.
However, I suspect its limitations could possibly have been accepted by the gay community at large had the Government not opted to degrade the acknowledgement of same sex relationships by equating such physically loving relationships with that of two siblings. Such a bitter pill to swallow that the State which we support as voters and tax payers would slyly suggest that my partner and I are no different from two unmarried sisters. This State-sponsored propagation of an archaic view is appalling.
That is not to say that there should not be legislation to protect such sibling relationships, but it was a narrow-minded act to lump these completely different categories together. – Yours, etc,
Madam, — I am equally aghast as Laura Harmon (June 30th) at the recently published Civil Partnership Bill, but for entirely different reasons. This Bill is a continuation of the Government’s obsession with an adult rather than child centred approach to family law. The overarching purpose of family law should not be to acknowledge the lifestyle choices of adults but to support the family structure most conducive to the welfare of children. This structure has a name: traditional marriage.
Studies consistently show that children fare best when reared by a loving mother and father in a stable marriage. Traditional marriage also vindicates a child’s right to be raised by, where practicable, a mother and father.
The new Civil Partnership Bill ignores all of this. In a bizarre example of the State re-entering the bedroom, it gives marriage-like rights to any combination of adults solely on the basis of sexual involvement and to the exclusion of interdependent adults who are not romantically involved.
The Bill also makes it more attractive for couples to choose cohabitation over marriage, despite the far greater break-up rate of the former arrangement and the many negative consequences this has for young children.
No one denies that any set of interdependent adults, whether they be same-sex, siblings or carers, should receive statutory protection.
It is even more important that when children are involved extra protection is afforded. But in undermining the special status of marriage the Government is making it more likely that future generations of children will have less chance of being raised by a loving mother and father in a stable relationship.
Britain is the obvious example. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In your Editorial (“Partnership Bill to be welcomed” June 30th), you state that the newly published Civil Partnership Bill is “another major step in the transformation of Irish social legislation” and “in the meantime the publication is to be welcomed.”
Through this bill the Government is making a clear statement that it sees homosexuals as a second class group within society and that it is OK for Irish society to continue to exist with one set of norms for heterosexuals and another for homosexuals.
Some lobby groups see the publication of this bill as a stepping stone to full equality but no matter how hard I try to reconcile myself with this idea I constantly end up asking the same question: why are homosexuals to be treated differently from others in Irish society?
My greatest fear is that the Civil Partnership Bill will become part of Irish law and it will be another 16 years before we achieve Civil Marriage for everyone. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – In the 1950s, black parents in the US were offered “separate but equal” schools for their children until the US supreme court found that “separate but equal” is not equality but rather a charade to mask inequality.
In 2009, gays and lesbians in Ireland are being offered a similar “separate but equal” institution of civil partnership which, in fact, provides us with less rights and protection than our heterosexual married peers and reserves the right to civil marriage for heterosexuals.
Significantly, this new institution punishes the children of gay and lesbian civil partners by also giving them less protection than the children of married couples.
Can we consider ourselves to be an equal society if we tolerate different levels of civil rights based on sexual orientation, any more than a society that discriminates on the basis of race? What would be the reaction of any heterosexual person in Ireland if told by the government that they could not marry the person they loved?
Do we deny that discrimination has a negative effect on the well-being and self-esteem of our brothers, sisters or children who are gay or lesbian? – Yours, etc