Dublin football star Ger Brennan: Why I'm voting No

[barryqwalsh]

For a start, this isn't a referendum on whether we like gay people or whether they should be equal citizens according to the Constitution. They already are equal citizens. Article 40.1, which deals with equality, declares that all citizens shall be held equal before the law. We are not being asked to amend Article 40. We are instead being asked to amend Article 41, which deals with the family and with marriage.

Nor is this referendum about whether gay couples should have their relationships recognised by the State. They already do. Bar a couple of minor grey areas to be ironed out legislatively, gay couples in civil partnerships have all the rights married couples have. Civil partnership ceremonies are virtually identical to civil marriage ceremonies.


Dublin football star Ger Brennan Why I m voting No - Independent.ie

 

[there4eyeM]

To insist on using the term 'marriage' has always seemed merely a tactic for continued political power on the part of organization leaders. There would be nothing wrong with maintaining the word for the relationship between a man and a woman. Rights protection is one thing; semantics is another.