Ireland to legalise gay partnerships

[indra]

Sorry if this has been posted before, if it has I didn't see it.

Great step forward.

So what the fuck is the US waiting for?

Ireland to Legalize Gay Partnerships

DUBLIN, Ireland - Ireland will legalize civil partnerships for gay couples, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern pledged Monday as he opened new offices for the country's main homosexual rights pressure group.

Civil partnerships allow gay couples the same rights to inheritance, state benefits and other financial rights as held by married heterosexual couples.

"Sexual orientation cannot, and must not, be the basis of a second-class citizenship. Our laws have changed, and will continue to change, to reflect this principle," Ahern told an audience at Ireland's Gay and Lesbian Equality Network.

Ahern said it would be more difficult to legalize gay marriage in Ireland than it was in the United Kingdom, which approved the civil unions in December. Ireland's constitution has a clause requiring the predominantly Roman Catholic state to protect the institution of marriage, whereas the UK, which includes neighboring Northern Ireland, has no written constitution.

"This challenge, however, is one that the government is determined to meet. We are committed to legislating on this issue," said Ahern, who noted that a government-appointed group of experts would recommend several possible options in a report expected in November.

"Although there is a growing climate of equality and support for anti-discrimination action, I also recognize that members of the gay community still face isolation, abuse and victimization on the basis of their sexuality," Ahern said.

link here

 

[verte76]

This is great. Bravo Ireland!

 

[Irvine511]

(waits for the sky to fall, the Irish Sea to boil, and thousands of school girls to remove their uniforms and have lesbian sex in the bathrooms)

 

[U2democrat]

 

[Carek1230]

Welcome to the 21st Century. Now if the rest of the world would only follow suit

 

[A_Wanderer]

(waits for the sky to fall, the Irish Sea to boil, and thousands of school girls to remove their uniforms and have lesbian sex in the bathrooms)

me too

 

[XHendrix24]

So can they march in the parade now?

 

[Amigone]

So what the fuck is the US waiting for?

impeachment of bush and election of someone with two braincells to rub together.

 

[anitram]

Great step forward.

So what the fuck is the US waiting for?

The 22nd century.

 

[nbcrusader]

I thought this wasn't good enough? Just about everyone here has supported the idea of such domestic partnerships.

 

[melon]

I thought this wasn't good enough? Just about everyone here has supported the idea of such domestic partnerships.

Except Congress, which viciously opposes it and is ready to dig up that old marriage amendment again. It's an election year, you know.

Between that and blaming illegal immigrants for all of America's problems, I'm waiting for the long-abandoned, color-coded terror alert to make a comeback around the primaries, along with a release of oil from the strategic reserves to lower gas prices temporarily.

And if that doesn't work, there's always the anti-flag burning amendment and another round of free money for breeders that are really just an advance on next year's tax refund. But we'll keep that part hush-hush until Republicans are reelected.

Melon

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

(waits for the sky to fall, the Irish Sea to boil, and thousands of school girls to remove their uniforms and have lesbian sex in the bathrooms)

Hehe.


Good for Ireland... Now we just need to get our asses in gear here.

 

[LadyRhia]

Re: Re: Ireland to legalise gay partnerships

impeachment of bush and election of someone with two braincells to rub together.

Amen to that WTG Ireland

 

[Poco]

Well done Ireland

 

[daygloeyes2]

(waits for the sky to fall, the Irish Sea to boil, and thousands of school girls to remove their uniforms and have lesbian sex in the bathrooms)

I'm afraid with something like this, it's inevitable.



Seriously, great news.

 

[BrownEyedBoy]

Sexual orientation cannot, and must not, be the basis of a second-class citizenship. Our laws have changed, and will continue to change, to reflect this principle.

I like this thought.

We have a long way to go here. People in Honduras are even condemning people for going to watch "Brokeback Mountain".

 

[financeguy]

While it should be borne in mind that Ahern has only expressed an intention rather than a definitive commitment, I think this is nevertheless to be welcomed.

Incidentally Fianna Fail, the party Bertie Ahern leads, were historically a socially conservative party and for a party leader of Fianna Fail even to attend an event such as this 20 or 30 years ago would have been unthinkable.

 

[blueyedpoet]

It's odd to think that when the boys in U2 were growing up, homosexuality was illegal in Ireland. And, now this.....progress. Despite what so many conservatives think, humanity is progressing.

 

[yolland]

Not so odd, considering divorce and most contraceptives were illegal there at the time too. From what I understand, it's still not too easy to get a divorce there.

 

[blueyedpoet]

Not so odd, considering divorce and most contraceptives were illegal there at the time too. From what I understand, it's still not too easy to get a divorce there.

I'm just saying "yay" for progress.

 

[financeguy]

Yep. Divorce and homsexual acts were only legalised in the mid-90s (although in practise, prosecution for the latter were very rare in recent decades). Contraceptives were difficult to obtain legally until (roughly) the early 90s. Heavens, you can only get Playboy magazine here in the last 10 years or so.

 

[coemgen]

I would've guessed this would've happened in the U.S. before Ireland. Interesting. (even though this is just intentions, as financeguy mentioned.)