Why I’m VoƟng Yes
As I’m wri ng this Ireland is in the middle of one of the most important referendums in its short
history; the Marriage Equality Referendum. As part of the build‐up to this referendum, there has been
a huge amount of debate centred on what same‐sex marriage would mean to the defini on of family.
This part of the debate in par cular, is what has me wri ng this ar cle.
Firstly, it is important to note that Ireland will have been the first country in the world to hold a
referendum on whether or not to allow same‐sex marriages. 17 other countries, as well as some states
in the US, have previously agreed to allow gay and lesbian couples marry, but this was agreed in their
respec ve parliaments, unlike here, where any changes to the Cons tu on have to be put to a
referendum and public vote. Unfortunately, this reliance on having to hold a referendum has allowed
for a vociferous No campaign to draw a en on away from what the referendum is about, in the hopes
that they can sway people who are unsure how to vote.
This change to the referendum simply boils down to a ma er of equality and civil rights. Trade unions
have fought for workers’ rights for the past century and, as part of that fight, we forced the crea on of
the Employment Equality Act. Within this Act are the nine grounds for discrimina on: gender, race,
age, disability, religion, family status, civil status, membership of the travelling community and sexual
orienta on. We fight every day, not just as trade unionists, but as a society, to ensure that every
person in the workplace is treated equally. That we are given the same rights, the same working
condi ons, and the same level of respect regardless of our differences. So how can we call for this
equality within the workplace, but not outside of it? The short answer, and the obvious one, is we
can’t. It’s for this reason that the No campaign has drawn the debate away from equality and towards
topics like “tradi onal” marriage and redefining family.
The argument that changing the tradi onal defini on of marriage, “the formally recognised union of a man and a woman in a rela onship”, is really a non‐argument. For decades, movements have redefined
and changed social tradi ons for the be er. For every social movement, like the Suffrage es in the
early 20th century who fought for a woman’s right to vote, to people like Larkin or Connolly who gave
birth to the trade union movement in Ireland today, or the civil rights movement in America during the
50s & 60s that fought to end racial discrimina on, there have been counterarguments against these, all
mired in “tradi on”. We as a na on cannot stand by and wallow in tradi on, when that tradi on causes
our brothers and sisters in the LGBTQ community to suffer as second‐class ci zens. A person should
have the right to marry whoever they love, regardless of gender, and we should not allow tradi on to
dictate that.
The No movement also argue that same‐sex couples already have the right to civil partnership, which is
“basically the same” as marriage, so why do we need a referendum? Well, the answer to that is simple.
There are actually over 160 statutory differences between civil partnership and marriage in Ireland, and
these are hugely important differences. For example, civil partnership does not recognise same‐sex
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couples' rights to many social supports that may be needed in hardship situa ons and may literally
leave a loved one out in the cold.
The most important difference between civil partnership and marriage, in my opinion, is that civil
partnership does not permit children to have a legally recognised rela onship with their parents ‐ only
the biological one. This causes all sorts of prac cal problems for hundreds of families with schools and
hospitals, as well as around guardianship, access and custody. In the worst case, it could mean that a
child is taken away from a parent and put into care on the death of the biological parent. The argument
from the No side is that a Yes vote would redefine family; yes it would, but for the be er. Rather than
just the “tradi onal” family being protected, as it is at the moment, married couples of the opposite
sex or of the same sex will be recognised as a family and be en tled to the Cons tu onal protec on for
families. This, once again, boils down to equality and basic civil rights.
The No campaign has probably been its most vocal in calling for the protec on of the tradi onal family,
claiming that a child deserves the right to a mother and father. No campaigners lament that adop ve
children, or children born through surrogacy, will have no legal right to know their birth mother or
father. As an adoptee myself, I find this argument extremely insul ng. Surrogacy, and in par cular
adop on, have been an alterna ve means to family crea on for heterosexual couples or single parents
for decades now. Yet, tellingly, the No campaign never seemed to worry about adoptees or surrogate
children before this referendum was announced. In fact, a lot of the most high‐profile members of the
No campaign are also prominent members of the Irish pro‐life movement, and as part of the pro‐life
movement, call for women to refuse abor on in favour of pu ng the child up for adop on a er it is
born! The hypocrisy is staggering. Also, in regards to adop on and surrogacy, these are already op ons
for same‐sex couples who wish to start a family. Vo ng No will not change that fact, but what it will do
is restrict the rights, not only of the parents, but of the child. In all their worrying about the children,
the No side seem to have missed the fact that only by allowing same‐sex marriage, can we offer all
children equal rights and protec on in Ireland.
At the end of the day, and as I stated above, this referendum is about two things: equality and civil
rights. That same‐sex couples and members of the LGBTQ community be treated equally to
heterosexual couples, and that the children of same‐sex partnerships be afforded the same civil rights
as you or I. This can only be achieved if people vote Yes on the 22nd of May. I hope you are one of those
people.
Barry Gorman
Chair of CWU Youth CommiƩee
Facebook: CWU Youth CommiƩee Ireland
Twi er: @YouthCWU