Referendum is about ‘the family’, not marriage

Fergus Finlay and Neil Breslin have difficulty understanding how any reasonable person can possibly vote ‘no’ in the upcoming referendum (Irish Examiner, May 5).

If they just look at the article of the constitution we are asked to amend, they might just see where the ‘no’ campaign is coming from.

The article is about ‘the family’ not about ‘marriage’. If the referendum succeeds, the family as a foundational social unit may be headed by two men or two women or a man and a woman. There will be no difference in law between them.

Legal equality cannot obliterate differences. A man can never be a mother. A woman can never be a father. Only a man and a woman together can provide a child with a mother and a father.

Only a man and a woman can give full genetic identity. If only both contributors could take a child’s view on the issue rather than an adult’s view.

Margaret Hickey

Blarney

Co Cork