We can’t give birth to a new idea of marriage

According to a report in the Irish Examiner (Apr 15), 79% of the members of a constitutional think-tank voted in favour of same-sex marriage.

Eamon Gilmore said marriage involving one man and one woman “reflected the past and not the future”. John Lyons said refusing gay marriage “was blatant discrimination on the part of the State”.

Jerry Buttimer said his mum and dad taught him the value of love and commitment, but he didn’t say their marriage involved procreation, without which he would not be available for comment. Colm O’Gorman said “it is time for gay parents to be treated as equals”.

Is he not aware of the voluminous research proving that the optimum environment for children’s development is in the home with father and mother?

Did any of the 79% consider equality for children?

An elephant and a mouse are equal, in that both are animals.

Nevertheless, if a man endeavoured to pull a large log from a tropical forest by hitching a mouse to it, he would be taken away by men in white coats.

Is it any less ludicrous for people to claim that same-sex unions, which are sterile, are equal to the union of a man and a woman in marriage, a union that can produce a new generation of human beings? It is dangerous for a person to lose touch with reality.

When it happens to a society, it can be catastrophic.

Steve McGarry

Bishopstown

Cork