Ireland Grants Civil Partnerships For Same-Sex Couples
Friday June 26, 2009
Ireland passed a civil partnership bill on Friday, granting same-sex couples many of the rights of civil marriage.
"This bill provides legal protection for cohabiting couples and is an important step, particularly for same-sex couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition by the state," Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said in a statement.
Ireland's civil partnerships are an important step indeed. The primarily Catholic country just legalized divorce in 1995. The new benefits to same-sex couples include inheritance and property rights.
Where Is Gay Marriage Legal?
Image: © Dennis Flaherty/Getty
Comments
Ireland has not recognised same-sex partnership, the bill has not been passed, only the proposed bill published, it has not yet been made law and though the Govt proposes that this be done by the end of the year, this must be taken with a pinch of salt since this law was promised to have been passed by the end of 2008 on previous occassions.
Thanks for the info, Alex. According to the Irish Times, the Civil Partnerships Bill “will be enacted and operational by the end of the year.” http://bit.ly/19DFt4
Fantastic! Now I can go home and live there, in Ireland, in safety with my partner, who is a Ghanaian. We got “married” on 16 March 2007, in a Civil Partnership in England, but we couldnt ever visit Ireland – he would need a visa. Now this will be all changed, and he can then live with me! I am sure that as it is in the format stage, other civil partnerships from other countries will be now accepted as valid relationships.
I am writing to try and explain to you why same sex marriage is wrong and in the hope that my argument may at least encourage you to have another think about your open support of it. I am a retired art teacher of art who played in rock bands for over two decades so I probably fall into the ‘assumed liberal’ category.
I totally support civil unions between homosexuals. They should have the right to pass their property and monies onto their partners when they die.
Marriage? No.
Here are my reasons:
1. The institution of marriage was created primarily so that babies could be created and come into a mother-father setup. Of course it isn’t perfect and single women will continue to bear children and rear them either alone or with a boyfriend/partner.
2. Why would two men want to get married when they cannot produce babies? As a stepping-stone to legal adoption only. Otherwise, civil union should be enough for them.
3. Neither can two lesbians (married or not) create a baby. Even with clever use of semantics, ‘their’ child is either someone else’s or was carried by only ONE of them who was impregnated by male sperm. The other one is nothing to the child (apart from mother’s lover) no matter how often they say the “two mummies” mantra.
4. Not enough research has been done on children who have been raised by same-sex couples. Who knows who or what they will blame if they turn out to be (as a percentage no doubt will) criminals – “oh the boy had a very strange childhood – he was raised by two men your honour and never knew who his mother is.”
5. The same-sex marriage idea is being pushed by a minority group. Why can’t other minority groups look for marriage too? Brother and sister? Son and widowed mother? Uncle and 14-year old niece? “Oh don’t be ridiculous” I hear! It’s NOT ridiculous. There are small minority groups out there who would accept/support those unions – like it or not. Why give in to the most vociferous minority group?
6. And another “Oh don’t be ridiculous” argument: What if . . . same-sex marriage became even more fashionable than it already is? What if, in 100 years time, more than 50% of Irish people decided that they wanted to marry someone of the same sex? What if, in 500 years time, more than 90% of Irish people decided that they wanted to marry someone of the same sex? You know what – total chaos. No children. No schools. No students. No new graduates. No jobs. Armegeddon.
Think about it.
Martin B.
Martin,
I’ll right — I’ll rise to the bait: While I agree with your support of same sex civil union, I must suggest that your stated grounds for opposition of gay marriage departs from reason and resides in prejudice.
As a Irishman married in the Roman Catholic church and a father, I appreciate marriage as a sacrament. I also recognize that, in addition to its religious significance, it is a state sanctioned domestic contract. It is only in this latter sense that the State owes its citizens fully equal treatment under the law. No one would suggest that same sex couples should expect the Church to admit them to the marital sacrament. This is a civil rights issue, not a religious one.
By your logic:
1. Only fertile opposite sex couples ought to be permitted to marry and so receive the many rights, benefits, and obligations of the institution.
2. It is self evident that gay and lesbian couple would want to marry for the same reason that anyone else would. Your view of marriage is rather cynical. Learn from the American example: “Separate but equal is not equal.” (Of course the current Bill is not even equal.)
3. I can only imagine that you were not an adopted child. It is a shameful suggestion that a foundling home would be preferable to a pair of loving, properly vetted same sex parents.
4. What research that has been performed by reasonably unbiased universities consistently refutes your alarmist assertions. Yes, the research is recent and thin, but it is self evident that children denied affection and clear guidance are more likely to stray than those who do.
5. Are you seriously suggesting that gay marriage leads to incest? The real point is that minorities are deserving of basic respect, equal protection under the law. Not all of us in Ireland are Roman Catholic and not all Roman Catholics are comfortable with the Church’s opposition of equal civil rights for all Irish citizens.
6. If homosexuality were a matter of fashion, no one would be gay for more than one season. The moon is more likely to collide into the Earth than our countrymen becoming gays and lesbians en masse.
I have thought about it and I’ll choose common sense over hysteria, thank you very much. I hope that you will consider joining me in that.
CD
In response to Martin.
You sum up all that is wrong with Ireland and i’m glad you posted this because it reminds me of the reasons why I left and never want to return. Even, if by some chance, eventually, I were treated with equality and have protection and rights for my family in Ireland, I would still have millions like you muttering, disapproving and gossiping in the background.
Ireland sucks.
Yours,
Sean (37), London.
Married with children.
In response to Martin -
I have left a message above, yes, me, with the Ghanaian civil partner, under English Civil Law. We have a son – okay, he is not mine, but he is my partner’s son from a previous relationship his parents forced him into when he was too young to resist. He is my step-son per se, and I love him as if he were my own natural son. He is now almost 14, and he calls me “uncle” – it seems the most appropriate, yet respectful title he can give me – even though I am not his natural uncle, but his step-father, by English law. He knows this, and accepts the situation.
We all get along like any other non-obtrusive family. We share the care of “our” son. I am learning their language, which will make life easier – having two languages, English and Twi, being spoken in the household can at times be difficult. “Our” son’s natural mother knows of the situation, and thinks I am a better father to her son than his natural father. We have been living together since 2005 – that is 4 years of being a strong, united and loving family. What more can one want than a happy family like this?
Martin, your views are bigoted, to the extreme. National Socialism could be your forte. There are exceptions to life, and the way life is lived. My grandmother used to tell me “there is nothing new on the face of the earth, it has all happened before, and we all still survive”. Try that adage for size. It might suit you better, with a more open view on humanity and life in the wide world in general.
Put that in your bigoted pipe and smoke it.
I find it funny that you can’t even come to a page to learn more about a topic, without finding someone has had to give their reasons why it is wrong!
Martin, if you feel so strongly about it, I don’t think ‘about.com’ is the correct forum.
I find it difficult to hold back when I read the type of nonsense you whimsically spewed. The one point I will highlight is actually quite hilarious (and there are a few points I could easily pick at). Your idea that 50% of Irish people could engage in same sex marriage, and then maybe 90%.
Ok, even if it bacame more fashionable to marry someone of the same sex, what you are suggesting is that by allowing SSM, this will actively lead to more people actually having homosexual feelings? How is SSM different to civil partnerships in this respect? You don’t fear civil partnerships becoming so cool that heterosexuals will be ‘turned’ by the concept?
I have no proof of this, however I do know that homosexuality is found elsewhere in mammals.
Sheep are the best example.
A small percentage of sheep display exclusively homosexual behavior. This does not lead to any kind of persecution, they are allowed to be as gay as they like, but yet sheep haven’t yet become extinct due to homosexuality. Do you see my point?
Just because homosexuality has been regarded as being so wrong, so evil, for such a long time, it doesn’t mean that by accepting it, we all turn gay. (Although a few more in Ireland would be sweet!)