Ireland's marriage equality cause is boosted by Helen Doody's letter which criticises the current Civil Partnership Bill going through parliament
Mother’s Letter to Irish Justice Minister “Civil Partnership Bill is not good enough for my family”
Current Civil Partnership Bill is discriminatory to gay couples
A mother of a gay son has written to the Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern asking for Ireland’s controversial Civil Partnership Bill to be amended so “everyone in this country can be equal.”
Helen Doody was moved to write her passionate letter after her son Declan had initially written to Mr Ahern about Ireland’s lack of marriage equality and had been ignored. The letter has proved a big hit in Ireland where 81% of the population think everyone should be treated equally, regardless of sexuality.
A mother’s letter has great significance for gay rights in Ireland. It was a letter from the mother of a gay son to Justice Minister Máire Geoghegan-Quinn that was deeply influential in decriminilising homosexuality in Ireland 15 years ago.
Ireland’s current Civil Partnership Bill is highly unsatisfactory to many gay people in Ireland, as it falls far short of giving true marriage equality to gay people.
Monnine Griffith, Director of pressure group MarriageEquality, told the Mothership Blog today,
“Constitutionally, and legally, and in the eyes of the State, and in the eyes of society, gay civil partnerships would not be recognised as equal to married couples.”
Monnine Griffith
The current Bill does not give protection for gay partners against discrimination, and in fact actively promotes discrimination in many ways - for instance separate social security rights, separate tax legislation and no adoption rights - families will not be recognised whatsoever under the current Civil Partnership Bill.
“No gay civil partners will be able to adopt, even his or her biological child, and crucially not only is this discriminatory against gay people, but also from the child’s perspective it is highly discriminatory against children of gay and lesbian parents.”
Monnine Griffith went on to say that from a social science perspective research has shown full legal recognition of same sex partnerships reduces stigmatisation and homophobia in society [1] - a problem referred to in Helen Doody’s letter where she talks about the severe bullying her son experienced at school.
Let’s hope Helen Doody’s personal and moving letter hits a nerve with the Irish government and gives MarriageEquality’s cause a huge boost, and helps them achieve full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples in Ireland.
To find out more or support MarriageEquality click here.
You can read the letter here.
by David Abrehart
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
[1] Herek, Gregory M. (2006), “Legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the United States: A social science perspective”, American Psychologist
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