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.