Same-sex marriage

Sir, – After painstakingly explaining to us that fewer than 1 per cent of babies are born with ambiguous sexual identities, Ralph Hurley O'Dwyer (November 17th) then makes the extraordinary statement that "nature doesn't draw a line between male and female". Is 99 per cent clearly identifiable male or female children not clear enough for him? How too does he cope with the fact that those babies (all of them) are products of the contributions of genetic material from identifiably male and female persons?– Yours, etc,

MARIE MacSWEENEY,

Drogheda.

Sir,– Patrick Treacy ( November 5th) used the word “truth”, in relation to marriage, 13 times. If “truth demands” that same-sex couples are to choose a different word and different concept to “marriage”, should couples who choose not to have children, or couples who do not marry for love, or couples who do not share a bed, also choose an alternative word? Perhaps an alternative “truth” is that there are as many marriages as there are couples. Why should one such marriage not be same-sex? – Yours, etc,

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EMMA FRIEL,

Leixlip, Co Kildare.