There are many good reasons to keep marriage as is in Ireland.
The section of the Constitution we are being asked to change is Article 41. This is called "The Family".
41.1.1 states:
"The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptable rights, antecendent and superior to all positive law. (Art. 41.1.1)."
41.3.1 states:
"The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack." (Art. 41.3.1)
The reason marriage is guarded with special care is because it is the most fundamental of all human institutions. It predates the church and the state. It has existed throught history and in virtually all human societies. It is the natural environment for raising children, giving them the best chance of stability and support.
The new section you will be asked to support is as follows: "Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex." (Department of Justice Marriage Equality Referendum Wording)
On May 22nd we are being asked to redefine marraige and redefine the family.
We are being asked to support the radical idea that there is no difference or distinction between the marriage of a man and a woman and the marriage of two men or two women. If you agree, same-sex marriage will be recognized as a “natural primary and fundamental unit group of society.”
Because you are being asked to redefine marriage, on which the family is founded, your decision will have far-reaching consequences for children, education, employment law, equality legislation, freedom of speech and religious liberty.
There is a distinction between the union of a man and a woman and the union of two men or two women. Recognising difference and protecting difference is not discrimination!
What is needed here is equity that respects difference not equality that destroys it. Attempts to frame the referendum as a matter of equality ignore the fact that all people are already equal under the law. By voting “no” you are protecting the State’s only child-centred and child-oriented social institution. A Yes vote makes the rights of children secondary to the desires of adults.
A “Yes” vote will change our Constitution to mean that children do not have a right to a mother and a father. This means that when it comes to laws permitting surrogacy and Donor Assisted Human Reproduction (DAHR), and even in relation to adoption, our Constitution will require that some children be left deliberately motherless or fatherless - by State design.
In other words a “Yes” vote will make it constitutionally impossible for the law to show any preference for a child having a mother and a father in relation to adoption, surrogacy and DAHR.
That’s not all. The Courts could decide that the right to marry grants same-sex couples a constitutional right to procreate. They can only procreate through the use of donated sperm or eggs and, in the case of two men married to each other, by using a surrogate mother’s womb for nine months.
When children are conceived by DAHR with donated sperm and eggs they are deliberately deprived of knowing who their natural biological parents are until they turn 18 (and then only after they actively seek out their birth certificate). Donor-conceived children are often deprived of important information about their identity and genetic make-up. This can leave major gaps in their medical history, with potentially devastating consequences.
Civil Partnerships already give legal rights and public recognition to same-sex unions.
The Civil Partnership Act already enables same-sex couples to commit to each other and have their relationships publicly recognised as Civil Partnerships.
In Civil Partnerships, same-sex couples can express their commitment to each other and receive virtually all of the legal benefits granted to married couples, such as those relating to inheritance, taxation, social welfare, immigration and maintenance. A civil partnership ceremony is identical to a civil marriage ceremony, down to the saying of "I do".
If we pass this referendum, pressure will be placed on schools to teach that same-sex relationships are no different from the relationship between a man and a woman. Already in the UK, primary school text-books promote same-sex relationships regardless of the wishes of parents.
The Taoiseach has recently stated that Catholic schools will be expected to teach children about the right to same-sex marriage if the referendum passes.
Parents who sincerely believe that there is a "distiction" will find it difficult to ensure that their values are respected in their child's classroom. A leading Irish gay rights activist has already argued that under-fives should be taught about gay relationships in crèches.
In North America where c.1.6 percent of adults self-identify as gay some schools have been asked to stop celebrating Mother's Day on the basis that it discriminates against those children brought up in a same-sex headed household.
Any business connected with marriage or weddings could find itself before the courts if it refuses to provide its goods or services for a same-sex marriage.
Already a small printing company in County Louth has been threatened with legal action for turning down a civil partnership printing job.
In Northern Ireland, a Protestant baker is being prosecuted for refusing to decorate a cake with a gay marriage slogan. In Dublin, the owner of a small stationery shop was forced to sell his business because he refused to put a cake decoration, showing two grooms, in his display.
If the referendum passes the chances of businesses being successfully sued for exercising their freedom to choose how they provide their services increases significantly. Small business owners may be especially vulnerable.
The Yes campaign seems to believe that equality means erasing all differences between people. A mature democracy does not obliterate difference but values and protects diversity and fosters respect for people's differences instead of fostering conflict based on those differences.
If marriage is redefined, men and women who marry will be denied proper State recognition or celebration of the distinctiveness of their union and, even more importantly, any recognition of their role and unique responsibility in creating and nuturing children.
On polling day we will be asked to support an amendment which says that when it comes to family, marriage and children, there is, to quote, no "distinction" between the marriage of a man and woman the union of two men or two women.
There is, however, a clear difference. Men and women complement one another. Children benefit from the balance that mothers and fathers bring to parenting.
There are a time in a boy's life where the absence of a father's love will be particularly felt and there are times in a girl's life where only a mother's love will do. Because there is a distinction - Vote No.
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Donate NowThis website is provided by Mothers and Fathers Matter and hosted by the Keep Marriage Coalition and Family & Life Centre for Public Policy.