Gays and definition of marriage

Eamon Gilmore, in telling us that the right of gay couples to marry is the civil rights issue of this generation, is being less than candid in his ambition to sever the connection between sex, procreation and the stability and welfare of the nation’s children.

It is simply not possible to legislate for gay marriage without a fundamental redefinition of what marriage is essentially about and why the legal status of traditional marriage across the world is a matter of compelling public interest.

Marriage is characterised by the capacity of spouses to procreate — only coitus is recognised in common law jurisdictions as consummation of a marriage, and this essential and unique ingredient would never be possible in a gay marriage. Given the context of family to a marriage, it is not surprising that children fare best on virtually every benchmark of welfare and wellbeing when reared, nurtured and maintained by their biological parents, irrespective of other constraints, such as poverty, hardship, absence, illness, ethnic background and genetics.

The politics of personal freedom, cherished by Deputy Gilmore, is not a whimsical free-for-all forum that can be isolated from the vicarious responsibility of sound, stable governance. The abolition of the traditional definition of marriage will weaken that institution in Ireland. It will obscure the value of opposite-sex parenting as an ideal and threaten basic moral and religious freedom with massive social and fiscal consequences for individuals’ and the State.

Viewing marriage purely as a State-recognised institutionalised romantic relationship, rather than a conjugal union between a man and a woman with its unique role and responsibilities towards children will also place the institution on a more vulnerable foundation and will likely to lead to greater marriage instability. Society does not function in a vacuum. Cues and cultural norms are shaped, in part, by law and impact society’s understanding and definition of marriage.

Almost every culture in every era and every place across the world has at its core the institution of marriage which facilitates and regulates the conjugal union of a husband and wife that serves the good of the children of that union; their own good and the common good. Deputy Gilmore ought to focus more carefully on the features that enable society to flourish and thrive rather than being distracted by notions of impossible experimental social engineering and the grave adverse implications of this.

Myles Duffy

Bellevue Avenue

Glenageary

Co Dublin