Whining you say? You ain't seen nothing yet.

Eilis O Hanlon can go and disappear nicely off the face of this earth and she can take her Rag of a paper with her. Today in the Sindo her article entitled "Gays, stop whining, take what's on offer", she expects us gays to just back down yet again and not look for full equality before the law, which I am sure Ms. O'Hanlon affords and benefits from herself.

She writes:

Listening to some gay groups, however, you'd think we were still living in an age when being gay was punishable by death and the merest hint of anything untoward in a chap's private life was enough to bring the world crashing down around his oppressed ears.

Thus it is that, with publication of the long-awaited Civil Partnership Bill due any day now, and the Cabinet set to discuss the issue this week (assuming, that is, that they're not too busy jostling for position in the new world created by Bertie's departure), some gay groups are still eager to find fault with the proposed changes.

I might remind Ms. O'Hanlon that the "long awaited Civil Partnership Bill" will not appear "any day now", but rather what will emerge is the Heads of a Bill. Even then, when asked about when this will be put before the Dáil in Question time last week, the following was the response from Government circles:

Deputy Eamon Gilmore: The second matter I wish to raise concerns the civil unions Bill, on which a report is being prepared by the Government. I recall that when the Labour Party's Civil Unions Bill was before the House it was promised that the heads of the Government's legislation would be published at the end of February or in March - I will not quibble about the month. Is it still intended to publish the heads of the legislation and when will we have sight of them?

The Tánaiste: On the civil partnership Bill, it was stated in the Dáil that the Minister would bring his proposals to the Government by the end of March. He has met that deadline. The proposed scheme draws on the options identified by the working group on domestic partnership, under the chairmanship of Ms Anne Colley, and the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission in its report on the rights and duties of cohabitants. The scheme will propose a statutory civil registration scheme for same sex partners and a redress scheme to provide certain legal protections for them and other cohabitants. I understand the heads of the Bill are being drafted but I cannot give an exact date for publication.

Deputy Eamon Gilmore: When will we see the Bill?

Deputy Brendan Howlin: What is the reason for the delay?

The Tánaiste: We will deal with the Bill this year.

Deputy Brendan Howlin: Were the heads of the Bill brought to the Government?

The Tánaiste: No, they are being drafted. The Minister said in the Dáil that he would bring his proposals on how to address this issue to the Government. That was done.

Via: Dail Transcript Records

Ms. O'Hanlon continues her tirrade by stating that there is little or no difference between Civil Partnerships and Civil Marriage and the Gay Lobby is merely looking for anything to complain about.

Debating the distinction between the two is, for most observers, about as satisfying as listening to a couple of theologians arguing about the number of angels that can dance on the head of a pin, but if you're spending your days campaigning for gay marriage then I suppose you have to find something, anything, to complain about or your life of single-issue advocacy might start to look startlingly empty

Well Ms. O'Hanlon there is a bit of a difference between the two.

1. Civil Marriage is not a religious event. It is a state sanctioned event. You cannot get married in this country without State Santion. Thankfully that little "thorny Jesuitical difference[s]" has always been the case.
   
2. Marriage is constitutionally protected and as such affords more protections to relationships than Civil Partnership ever will.
3. Civil Partnership legislation will mean the changing of every piece of legislation across the spectrum in order to include it. Why would you put yourself through that, when instead all you have to do is introduce a single piece of legislation to lift the ban on Same-Sex Marriage?

Ms. O' Hanlon also lauds/dismisses MarriagEquality's recent Lansdowne Survey (See here for Press Release) which she claims adds "to support their professional indignation, they even commissioned a poll showing that 58 per cent of Irish people support gay marriage as opposed to only 26 per cent who want civil partnerships". I am curious to know why she is so bemused by the fact that a poll was commissioned. Surely this is common practice elsewhere in Civil Society.

This was a Lansdowne Survey, who are responsible for alot of polls within the Irish context on all manners of issues from elections, building regulations, government satisfaction ratings. It is independently done. Indenpendently Verififed and on foot of other polls done in recent years.

• Feb 06: Irish Examiner RedC poll: 51% of the national population in favour of gay unions/marriages .
  
• Oct 06: Sunday Tribune Milward Brown IMS: 64% believe that same-sex couples should have the same legal and financial rights as married couples.
  
• Nov 06: Lansdowne Market Research for GLEN:
  
• 84% in favour of civil marriage or civil partnership
• 51% believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.
  
• 33% believe that same-sex couples should be allowed to form civil partnerships.
• Mar 08: Lansdowne Market Research for MarriagEquality:
  
• 84% in favour of civil marriage or civil partnership.
  
• 58% believe that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to marry in a registry office.
• 26% believe that gay and lesbian couples should be allowed to form civil partnerships
• 61% agree that is unfair that gay men and women are excluded from getting married in a registry office.
  

The "average Irish citizen" expects an Organisation to back up its claims and it is a testament to the Irish people that they are able to see the distinctions between the Civil Marriage and Civil Partnerships.

I have said it here before and I will say it again. I nor anybody else involved in LGBT politics are looking for nothing except that which has been denied heretofore. Partial Equality is not Equality. Equality is not qualified and if it has to be qualified, then it is not equality and neither is it Ms' O'Hanlon a stepping stone to Equality but rather a method by which the crumbs are fed out from the Masters' table.

Whilst I accept her comments that we are not " living in an age when being gay was punishable by death and the merest hint of anything untoward in a chap's private life was enough to bring the world crashing down around his oppressed ears", this is the case here in Ireland; It most assuredly not the case across the world where identifying as LGBT is punishable by death in some parts of the world. One only has to look at the recent press coverage of the Iranian Youth who faced deportation from the UK and probable execution upon his return.

I would ask Ms. O'Hanlon if all her rights were taken in the morning and she was offered only half of them back, would she accept just that half and forget about the others in the hope that she would eventually get the others back? Apparently she would. Personally I do not have the same level of faith within the current Irish Democratic sphere as Ms. O'Hanlon appears to have.

The Launch of Marriagequality

OK this is going to be a quick post, Mainly because I am tired but also because I am in the middle of a thesis proposal for my masters that is due for tomorrow...(it's only a draft mom, don't worry!). I went to the launch of MarriagEquality today in the Mansion House-Yes I skipped class to go. However I am quiet glad that I did. Sometimes in your life there are moments where you feel that a movement or that something has arrived that you feel will go on and change the world and more importantly change the World which you exist in. I firmly believe that this movement has become embodied in MarriagEquality and it will achieve its aims.

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I walked into the Oak Room this morning and was thinking God I hope they get enough people in to fill all the seats. I guess an empty room always seems harder to fill when nobody is around. I need not have worried though because as the 11am start time approached, not only was all the rows of seats filled, but the spillover was going out into the lobby. The speeches were great and very affirming, as one would expect at the launch of a new initiative such as this. However it was the Rev. Chris Hudson, whose call for those of the Christain tradition not to slink off in the night to have the laws of inequality strengthened. I do have the utmost of respect for this man. I guess it is the fact he is a Unitarian Christian minister who is against inequality, both church and state and is not afriad to speak out. Even though I may still be Roman Catholic and my faith is quiet strong, his message speaks volumes to me.

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I have been part of many movements/groups in the last couple of years-not to the same extent as the level of involvement that was in that room this morning- I can honestly say, today I felt that I was apart of something very very special. Listening to the endorsements and empassioned pleas of the National Women's Council, the Lone Parents Network (ONE), Labour LGBT, Dublin Pride I felt a strange and unexpected sense of pride welling up inside me. I was moved to near tears on a couple of occassions during this morning, I guess that is how emotional the whole event felt for me. It was as if, like I said earlier, that you could feel the ground swell of support for something that is directly affecting people's lives.

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I want Civil Marriage for one reason and one reason only. I do not want to be a second class citizen in my own Republic. I do not want no provision or protections by the Irish state, which comes with marriage, ignored whilst I am offered a seperate but equal 'dog license' proposal. Seperate but equal is not equal. Civil Partnership is not Marriage. I want the oppourtunity to go to my local registery office either in Nenagh or Limerick with my partner. I want to be married in the eyes of the law, the eyes of my family, the eyes of my friends and the eyes of the state. I want that because marriage is stability. Marriage is recognized as a stable unit. I also want the oppourtunity to celebrate my 25th Anniversary like my parents have done this wkd with my partner. I don't think it is a big ask. I don't pay my taxes to have lawmakers lie behind Bunreacht na hÉireann. If you claim the law is incompatible, change the law. If you do not, I will be reconsidering my vote and I will bring my family with me, they will bring their families and so on and you will not be in Government. I will continue to do this until whoever is in Government gives me my basic rights. Besides if Catholic Spain can do it, surely Catholic Ireland should have no excuse.

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The time has come. The time is now. No more excuses.