[Article] Gay marriages bandwagon gathers speed

Yoda

The Sunday Business Post for 4 April had a long article with the title as given above. Before scanning it we'll see if it appears on their web site this week but in the meantime I'll quote the colophon:

There are growing calls for legislation to allow same-sex couples to make a legal commitment to each other, after which they will have similar pension and property rights to heterosexual couples.

"In terms of financial benefits ... gay men, lesbians, and unmarried couples are still second class citizens in this state." Senator David Norris proposes his Domestic Partnership Bill to legalise gay and lesbian marriages.

"Simple common sense." Fine Gael spokeswoman Senator Sheila Terry on proposals that same-sex marriage be given similar status to marriage.

"We will introduce legal recognition for couples in non-marital relationships, including gay and lesbian couples." Former Labour leader Ruairi Quinn calls for legal recognition and protection of gay partnerships in Labour's 2002 election manifesto.

"Some people may find that offensive or find that it isn't for him or her. That's fair enough – we are not asking them to do it." Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams backs gay marriage rights.

"Right across the government [there is a view that] there will have to be some sort of recognition for civil partnerships." The Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, indicates that recognition for gay relationships should not equate to marriage.

Yellum or I will post the rest of this article on this thread in due course.

vinnyfitz

Full text here

Yoda

From The Sunday Business Post

Gay marriages bandwagon gathers speed
04/04/04 00:00

By Kieron Wood

Last week's move by Senator David Norris to introduce legislation for same-sex marriages is part of a worldwide offensive by gay groups for recognition of the right to marry.

Norris's Domestic Partnership Bill would effectively legalise gay and lesbian marriages. "This final battle is a nice way to end my political life on a positive note," said the 60-year-old gay rights advocate.

The independent senator claimed he had cross-party support for the bill but warned that, if the government obstructed the measure, he would take Ireland to the European Court of Human Rights - as he did in 1988.That case led to the eventual decriminalisation of homosexuality in Ireland.

In the past decade, the gay rights juggernaut has gathered speed and now seems almost unstoppable. Last Wednesday, the British government published its Civil Partnerships Bill which will give gay and lesbian couples the same legal rights as married couples.The legislation will allow same-sex couples to make a legal commitment to each other at a formal ceremony, after which they will have similar pension and property rights to heterosexual couples.

The proposals, which should become law in England and Wales by the end of the year, will allow gays to benefit from their late partner's pension and to name their partners as next of kin - though they will also have to support one another financially. Couples who subsequently split up will have to seek a court dissolution, similar to a divorce. If there are children, they will have to agree maintenance payments.

Equality Minister Jacqui Smith said the legislation opened the way to "respect, recognition and justice for those who have been denied it for too long".

Many countries have introduced registered domestic partnerships (RDPs) for gay and lesbian couples, but samesex couples are currently only allowed to marry in the Netherlands, Belgium and Canada.

Holland was the first to legalise same-sex marriage three years ago. On April 1, 2001, four same-sex couples were married in Amsterdam city hall. The couples had previously registered their partnerships under Dutch law, and converted the RDPs into marriages.

But the Dutch government agency Statistics Netherlands reported in late 2002 that same-sex couples did not seem very interested in marriage. The agency estimated that fewer than one in ten of the country's 50,000 gay couples had opted to marry under the new law.

Even in the Netherlands, same-sex marriage remains a minority pursuit. In 2002, there only 1,900 gay marriages, compared to 85,500 heterosexual ceremonies, a ratio of 45 to one.

Belgium became the second country to allow same-sex marriage in January 2003. Homosexual couples avail of the same legislation as heterosexual couples, although gays are not allow to adopt children.

The prohibition on adoption has come under attack from gay campaigners. Dutch legal expert Kees Waaldijk said: "There is a continuous trend in the law of many countries to recognise same-sex love as equal to different-sex love. And there is no reason why some of the core institutions of family law should be excluded from this utterly just trend."

Since February, Belgium has also recognised gay marriages between non-Belgians, provided at least one partner lives in Belgium or visits the country regularly.

Canada was the third country to legislate for same-sex unions. Gay marriage has now been declared legal by courts in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. The three provinces are home to more than half of Canada's 32 million people.

Quebec's first gay marriage is due to take place in the Palais de Justice in Montreal next Saturday. Michael Hendricks, 62, and Rene Leboeuf, 48, have been exempted from the normal 20-day notice period because of their long public advocacy for same-sex marriage.

In the United States, the Massachusetts legislature last Monday rejected a call by the state's supreme judicial court to issue marriage licences for gay couples by May 17. Instead, the legislators approved a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage but permit civil unions for same-sex couples.

Following the Massachusetts court's decision, San Francisco officials performed more than 3,400 same-sex marriages. President George Bush called the court ruling "deeply troubling".

"Marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman," he said. "If activist judges insist on redefining marriage by court order, the only alternative will be the constitutional process.

"We must do what is legally necessary to defend the sanctity of marriage."

Five US states have now passed constitutional amendments to ban gay marriage and only Vermont has so far legalised civil same-sex unions. Civil unions give most of the same rights as marriage, but do not provide federal benefits such as social security payments.

A number of other states have granted limited benefits to gays in domestic partnerships. In South America, Argentina now permits civil unions with pension and healthcare rights for gay partners. Brazil's gay community is pressing for similar legislation. In Europe, France, Germany and most Nordic countries now give extensive rights to gay couples.The European Parliament has called on member states to recognise gay families.

The development has been resisted in the predominantly Catholic countries of southern Europe, though the incoming Spanish prime minister has prom is ed to legislate for same-sex unions.

In Ireland, a report last year by the National Economic and Social Forum proposed that same-sex relationships should be given a similar status to marriage. Under the 2000 Equal Status Act, it is already illegal to discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Fine Gael "enthusiastically welcomed" the report, with spokeswoman Senator Sheila Terry insisting that most people would see the proposals as "simple common sense".

Sinn Féin also backs gay marriage rights. Party leader Gerry Adams told GI magazine that men and women of marriageable age, including those of the same gender, should have the equal right to marry and to found a family. "Some people may find that offensive or find that it isn't for him or her. That's fair enough - we are not asking them to do it."

Former Labour leader Ruairi Quinn has also called for legal recognition and protection of gay partnerships.

Last week, a poll on samesex partnerships on the Labour Party website showed 92.9 per cent support for legal recognition of non-marital relationships, including for gay and lesbian couples.

Last weekend, the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell said he sensed that, "right across the government" there was a view that "there will have to be some sort of recognition for civil partnerships". The Minister for Justice told The Sunday Business Post: "When I expressed the view that legal recognition should be given to civil partnerships in some fashion, I clearly stated my view that this recognition should not put such unions on the same legal basis as marriage and noted that most gay people were not seeking gay marriage.

"I have not yet considered in detail the questions that might be raised by legislation such as the British Civil Partnerships Bill in an Irish context and I have no specific legislative proposals in preparation on this matter at present.

"If Senator Norris brings forward his bill on domestic partnerships and it is debated in the Seanad, I will respond on the government's behalf. I have not seen any detail of Senator Norris's proposals but I understand that he does not want to create `gay marriages'."

During the week, two Fianna Fail Euro-candidates express e d supp or t for McDowell. Eoin Ryan TD said he supported the recognition of civil partnerships for inheritance and tax purposes, but he had reservations about giving marital status to gay couples. Dublin Lord Mayor Royston Brady said he was "on the same page" as McDowell on the issue.

Outside Dublin, Fianna Fail TDs were less sure. Noel Davern from Tipperary South said he had "grave reservations" about the state providing legal recognition for gay couples similar to marriage, while MJ Nolan from Carlow said he didn't see any urgency about legislating for the recognition of same sex unions.

The religious aspect of the issue was raised last month when a senior Church of Ireland cleric, Archdeacon Gordon Linney, called for the registration of stable gay relationships "with all the benefits and rights that go with that status".

In a swipe at Catholic Church teaching, Linney questioned how "those people who are so certain about homosexuality being evil could have been so indifferent and even devious when it came to facing up to the issue of child abuse".

In response to this, Dublin coadjutor archbishop Diarmuid Martin said in St Patrick's Church of Ireland cathedral that he felt "a certain hurt"at Linney's remarks. He said Christians of different denominations should show "respect for each other's searching" on such issues.

But that is unlikely.Catholic teaching on homosexuality was set out in a 1975 Vatican declaration approved by Pope PaulVI which called homosexual acts "intrinsically disordered".

In 1986, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the approval of Pope John Paul II, further clar ified Church teaching: "Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered toward an intrinsic moral evil and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder."