‘Yes’ vote endorsed a ‘lesser love’

It’s more than a week since the referendum, and your letters’ page’s narrative is that it was all about declaring that the love between same-sex couples is equal to that of married couples.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Rather, the electorate voted to avoid offending a sensitive section of the community, by bestowing the word ‘marriage’ on their desire to have a stable, loving relationship.

The quality of their love was not the issue; indeed, by looking at real-life outcomes, we can safely say it is a ‘lesser love’. At the macro level, marriage, as a male-female institution, has been essential to the survival of the human race. That‘s why it is explicitly set out in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, unlike same-sex relationships.

Those who pursue intimate, same-sex relationships exhibit far higher rates of depression, self-harm (including drug-abuse), violence, disease and promiscuity. The wording we voted upon did not ask us to express our approval of a lifestyle. Had it, and if the media had not promoted a ‘Yes’ result, the outcome would have been similar to the referendum on the age of presidential candidates.

Gearóid Duffy

Lee Road

Cork