Couples of all genders ease burden on State

In the forthcoming marriage-equality referendum, the proposed change relates to civil marriage only.

Religious marriage will remain unchanged, a matter exclusively for the various denominations. The State accords privileges to married couples, even to those who don’t have children. Marriage is not just about procreation. It’s about loving and assisting each other and it’s in the interests of the State to support such behaviour. A society of single people, each living on his or her own, would be lonelier and unhappier — needing the State to step in more often when care is required. Gender doesn’t come into this. There is no reason why a same gender couple shouldn’t receive the same supports and recognition from the State as a heterosexual couple. Their love for each other is the same and it’s entirely to the benefit of the State that they be accorded full equality before the law.

Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh