Maman Poulet

Do the Iona Institute think the Irish public and their elected representatives are a few sultanas short of the full wedding cake? Well they must obviously with the latest line of lobbying that is underway with regard to the Civil Partnership Bill. Yesterday we heard that Iona Institute and their Director, my favourite passive aggressive, David Quinn, were invited in to address a Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting. Also invited were GLEN and Church of Ireland committee representatives.

It is interesting don’t you think that no other Catholic Church body was invited in to address the meeting or were they? Have Iona suddenly been elevated to Church mouthpiece? In the same way GLEN seem to be regarded as speaking on behalf of the LGB community? (Yes I know they say they don’t and many wish they wouldn’t but you get my drift).

So the ruse that Iona began with on Prime Time a while ago of protecting the parish hall committee a few weeks ago is continuing – this is where someone from Iona says that Civil Partnership legislation should contain a conscientious objection clause because before you know it Jack and Steve will be able to do the indecent thing in the local parish hall and the parish committee won’t be able to object due to equality legislation. In today’s Sunday Times we now have the photographer and the printer mentioned as needing protecting should they refuse to take the photos at a civil partnership or print the invites. Not a lot of mention of the registrars these days because maybe people feel registrars are public servants and should be doing their jobs in the same way nurses and Gardai are expected to serve?

Any organisation or individual who ‘discriminates’ in the provision of employment rights, such as pensions, or who ‘discriminates’ in the provision of goods and services against individuals in a civil partnership will very likely find themselves on the wrong side of the law,� it claims. Iona said policy-makers had a choice of treating belief in “traditional marriage� as a “prejudice�, or protecting that belief as “legitimate�.

Senator Ronan Mullen describes it as a ‘conscience opt out’. Conscience cop out more like.

We all know that Iona Institute would rather not have Civil Partnership legislation introduced at all. But the proposed bill is so basic and non offensive (except of course to a lot of lesbians and gay men) that there is little for them to complain about. So they come along and pretend they are worried about the people who may be paid to provide services at these events who may not wish to do so. I’m wondering why they didn’t mention florists? Or do you think that they realised that most florists would be only delighted? What about wedding planners? Caterers? Hairstylists? Okay I know I’m guilty of stereotyping but I’m just giving you some assistance in seeing through the pile of rubbish that is Iona’s latest ruse.

Back to that FF Parliamentary Party meeting – there were 25 TD’s and senators in attendance and there is allegedly some discord within the party on the bill. Not as much Discord as there is over the proposed Drink Driving legislation and nothing like the discord there should be over NAMA.

David Quinn says that the examples they are giving and case they are making “have happened overseas. This interpretation isn’t some kind of phantasm.�

Lovely new word there phantasm - orgasm of thought for rightwingers?

As a Catholic Priest openly mentions, sympathises and grieves with partner of Stephen Gately and is widely praised for it, the Iona Institute have to dig deeply to raise the ire of traditional catholics in Ireland against any legislation protecting same sex relationships. Sure the local GAA club is now not safe as a traditional area of marital protection since Donal Óg came out. (Ok I know I’m going too far there – my next post will be on the GAA and their role in closet keeping in Ireland. )

So do you think the TD’s were told by GLEN that lots of people are deeply unhappy with the legislation? And that many families are not protected by it?

A Glen delegation addressed the meeting separately. Kieran Rose of Glen described the meeting as “positive, open and friendly�.

He added: “All of the debate was totally reasonable.�

I’m sure it was.

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Image via WikipediaThe Green Party seem to spend a considerable amount of time analysing the campaign for same sex marriage/partnership rights. Paul Gogarty TD and chairperson of the party delves into comment’s on Damiens recent post to clarify the reported comments to constituents and others regarding how the campaign is being won and lost.

Deputy Gogarty believes that John Gormley’s words of wisdom to members of the lesbian and gay community at that meeting about lobbying FF have fallen on deaf ears.. (I heard them too…)

‘On a separate note, although I am not Spokesperson for this area, I do recall that our Leader John Gormley asked members of the Irish Gay and Lesbian Community at a special reception to get active on this issue and put pressure on Fianna Fail in particular. This has not happened.’

In the preceding comment Deputy Gogarty made an interesting observation

‘So far there has been no evidence of a campaign by the Gay community and their friends and families to put pressure on this reactionary conservative grouping.

No point in preaching to the converted and then cursing them for trying to be helpful. We are doing our best. But Government is made up of several parties and FF is the biggest by far.’

This is an interesting point and one which I’m sure that members of Marriage Equality and LGBT Noise will repudiate. However I think one should define reactionary conservative grouping… Because to me that means the Iona Institute and not Fianna Fáil. And for me far far too much time has been spent entertaining these people in the letters page of the Irish Times and other places. This crazy gang are a small organisation which has been given the primary opposition status by the responses and attention paid to them by lgb activists.

So has the eye been taken off the ball – the FF ball that is?? Or is this an attempt to lay the blame at the lgbt community by the Green Party laying the ground to diminish expectations and say ‘honest guv it wasn’t us!?’

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While the debates about the ban on traditional lightbulbs continue it’s probably about time that the many people living in Ireland who will be physically and emotionally affected by the move to low energy (CFL) bulbs put their two cents in.

For those of you who are not light sensitive or allergic to UVA rays may not know that CFL bulbs and other forms on non-incandescent lighting cause extreme difficulties for those with lupus, forms of eczema, sjorgens disease, dermatitis, epilepsy etc.

Personally I have no low energy bulbs in my home, I have also avoided a lot of other forms of lighting because I can’t cope in brightly lit or luminous conditions. I have had problems with this since my teens and the lights in the classroom used to cause me huge difficulties. Teaching also brought it’s problems with me sitting in the dark if I wanted to retain my concentration – the students probably thought I was a vampire.

As it is with incandescent bulbs I sit in the dark in my office a lot and only use lamps or candles at home. Low energy bulbs and the banning of the ‘old sort’ is going to cause me a lot of discomfort in terms of my sight and concentration but it’s minor in comparison to the skin rashes and other painful blistering and outbreaks that other will contend with from the UV rays emitted. I fear that lightbulbs are going to be added onto the prescription list along with the pills and potions.

I wonder how much consultation John ‘lights out’ Gormley will being doing with all the groups effected? More here on the British campaign to raise awareness of how environmental concerns harms those with long term medical conditions. I see Joanna Tuffy from Labour has thought about those with various medical conditions who will be affected. Today she called the Minister ‘Google Gormley‘ (I prefer ‘Lights Out’ myself) – but when he tells people to look up the internet for advice on how to dispose of the dam things he sounds so like the junior minister who talked about the emergency plans and the iodine tablets on Marian Finucane show and didn’t have a breeze about what he was talking about.

For the moment I cannot but agree with Philip Scott in his thoughts on the Great Green Gaff…(his wife has migraines, another condition affected by these so called green saviours)

stock up on as many incandescent bulbs as you can before these dimwits cast yet further gloom across the world.

And, at least incandescent light bulbs have the unusual property of actually illuminating a room.

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So the papers and TV and radio news were full of reports at the weekend that gay couples who have had their relationships recognised abroad will be able to have those relationships recognised here whenever the legislation is passed recognising same sex relationships.

Ah yes safe lovely cuddly couples who can financially contribute to the country and are being dissuaded from coming home to make their millions or demonstrate their talents (for what singing? actually maybe we could finally win the Eurovision if the state recognised same sex relationships!). Seriously…watch the GLEN spokes person in the news report on RTE from Saturday night (report titled Civil Partnership Reports Welcomed)

The issues raised about the lack of recognition by the couple affected are all very genuine of course – and if we could see their plight amonst all the others then maybe so many lesbians and gay men would not feel so dissaffected by those who claim to represent our views.

There are far more couples out there with one member at risk of deportation due to non EU resident status (and non recognition) who have not got any form of relationship recognition or marriage certificate. There are even more again who look like being dropped by both the lesbian and gay movement and politicians in the debates in the months to come. Those are the couples with children or with parenting intentions.

It’s time we started acknowledging how this campaign is going to be managed and dressed up in pink fluffy bows…no lavender there at all and not a babies bottle in sight. And as for poverty and disadvantage …oh but a distant memory.

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Yup one of those I’m very busy at the moment but will be back with you shortly posts – with more on Sean Power our junior minister for ‘equality if you are not a lesbian or gay parent’, and Brian Lenihan – Minister for forthoming inJustices but who get’s invited to openings of envelopes…and then there are the overseers/warlords of discrimination- the Green Party.

Anyways…go have a look at…

• White, male, Irish, middleaged and able bodied…this poor diddums is feeling aggrieved (nay discrminated against!)
• Some Lesbian Phone sex – really…. go on you know you want to!!! (Oh now I think the google searches…sigh)
• I wish I could say go read Beaut.ie (been buying a bit of make up meself recently shock horror!) but anyway their host company got a dose of the willies (oh that is rather beautiful – I’m keeping it) and as for the Indo and the rubbish they are printing all week – from someone who has had the indo hanging around my site digging and nicking stuff I can only add sure they have bloggers working for them for free anyway!!!

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..You can’t get married in a tent but now other places that are accessible, open the public and have a fire safety certificate are ok. Ah yeah special thing this marriage lark.  Have to keep the gays away from it.

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The matter of same-sex partnerships came up for discussion in Seanad Eireann yesterday. David Norris was hurting like lots of other lesbians and gay men and he wasn’t afraid to let people know.

Senator David Norris: The principal point I wish to raise is the question of what occurred in the Dáil yesterday and its impact on our legislative programme. The Labour Party put forward its Civil Unions Bill. I experienced a sense of déjà vu and great sadness. It is now four years since I put on the Order Paper of this House the Civil Partnership Bill. Had the Government acted then to support what is a reasonable measure which does not claim marriage, we would now have this law enacted.

The spectre of unconstitutionality has been raised, which is rubbish. Nobody really believes it. That is a creation of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, or as I prefer to call it, the Department of discrimination. The discrimination is emanating from that Department and, unfortunately, we have a decent man, who is well on the way to becoming the Minister for discrimination, in violation of the position adopted in this House by a former Fianna Fáil Minister and Deputy, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. I recall her saying that she, as a Cabinet Minister, would require clear, cogent and factual reasons to introduce discrimination against a citizen.

I have listened to people in this House and in the other one compare the degree of recognition which I would get to somebody with a pet, to a couple of nuns and to a couple of elderly sisters. I repeat what I said yesterday that I am not prepared to accept a dog licence. I am not a second-class citizen, nor will I remain so.

An Cathaoirleach:Is the Senator calling for the introduction of the Bill?

Senator David Norris:I hold up a heavy weight of five folders each with individual sheets and each sheet containing an agonised plea to me about certain aspects of this Bill, especially about Irish citizens in relationships with non-EU citizens. I call on the Government to get off its backside and do something about it. I am not prepared to wait.

Will the Leader give Government time before Christmas to take the Civil Partnership Bill 2004 in my name? If we had done this in 2004, it could easily have been tested. There is a mechanism. We can refer a Bill to the Supreme Court. We are not concerned about constitutionality or protecting the family.

I greatly resent what the Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan, said in the Dáil yesterday that the constitutional aspect involved a possible attack on the family. I say very clearly to all my colleagues in this House that granting me a minimum amount of decency, which almost every other country in Europe has granted, cannot be constituted as an attack on the family. How dare anyone say that to a decent upright citizen such as me and the many thousands of gay people who have lived in servitude for the past 60 years, of which the republican party should be thoroughly ashamed.

and later… Senator John Hanafin from Fianna Fáil made his views known (what’s rare is not wonderful!) – and the repartee began. (One can see what Norris has to endure from time to time from the other side of the house.)

Senator John Hanafin: I support the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Brian Lenihan, in his decision to rule out gay marriage because it is in conflict with the Constitution and I look forward to the civil partnership Bill. I am reminded of a story told about Sir Thomas More, whose son constantly asked him to do something about a man with whom he had a problem. Sir Thomas More asked his son whether his problem was to do with something against the law of man or the law of God. His son replied it was against the law of God and Sir Thomas More advised him to let God deal with it. However, Sir Thomas More was subsequently asked to recognise the marriage of Henry VIII and therein lies the difference. We are being asked to recognise gay marriage, something I am not prepared to do. What people do in their own homes is one thing; I may not agree with it but that is their own business—-

Senator David Norris: How very generous of Senator Hanafin.

An Cathaoirleach: Senator Hanafin without interruption.

Senator John Hanafin: However, when I am asked to call it a marriage, that is something I am not prepared to do.

Senator David Norris: Nobody cares what Senator Hanafin calls it.

An Cathaoirleach: I ask Senator Norris to respect other speakers. He has already made his contributio

Senator David Norris: I am tired of being insulted in this House and having the tissue of religion used hypocritically to put me in a second class place and I am not a second class citizen in this country and I will not be a second class citizen. That is rubbish from Senator Hanafin. On the few occasions he speaks it is to blackguard people like me.

There were other expressions of support for civil unions during the order of business including one from Eoghan Harris which spoke in favour or marriage and marriage rights being given to same-sex couples.

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Charles Flanagan TD. is a Fine Gael TD from very conservative stock. He’s not very much like his father though. An extract from his speech during the motion to reintroduce the Labour Party’s Civil Union Bill is something worth noting.

I recently attended the funeral of a single man in my constituency. His relatives, brothers and sisters organised the event from start to finish. They engaged in all the work involved, from the removal to the church to the post-funeral refreshments. The removal was not from the house of the deceased, where he died, but from the family home where he had not resided for many years.

It was a sad spectacle to see the long-term friend and partner of the deceased in a seat in the side aisle of the church, relegated to the status of a bystander at the funeral ceremony and last rites for his long-term partner. He cut a lonely figure away from the main event, consigned to the shadows. That is indicative of the shadows to which many persons in the gay community have been consigned by the Government over the years. Had this legislation been law, the man would at least have been accorded the decency and dignity of the status that is currently denied to him.

I’ve been to some funerals like this and myself have had nightmares about being sat in the side aisle. Can’t help thinking that a mere register of domestic partnerships at some agency well tucked away from public view or discourse will probably keep me in the nightmare.

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Michael D. tells Martin Mansergh some truths about republicanism.

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I wonder how the lesbian and gay members of the Green Party are feeling this morning – there are quite a few of them – some of very long standing, others quite new. I know how many Green Party voters are feeling – their ire is all through lesbian and gay message boards and filling up the inboxes of Green Party TD’s. One of the great things about the Civil Union bill (and the visibility and campaigning of Labour LGBT) is that many non political lesbians and gay men have got interested and angry in a way that they were not allowed or permitted by other movements/organisations.

I wonder how Green Party officials will feel at their next European Green getogether – you know looking in the face of Greens from those many countries who have full civil partnerships and marriage and indeed a variety of options on offer. A fine example of Green Party Action in Government.

A little reminder from wikipedia..and here’s a link to an excellent ILGA summary of the situation.

Civil partnership, domestic partnerships, Unregistered partnership or registered partnerships offer varying amounts of the benefits of marriage and are available in: Andorra, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. They are also available in some parts of Argentina, Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul), Mexico, the U.S. states of California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire (effective January 1, 2008), New Jersey, Oregon (effective January 1, 2008), Vermont, Washington state, and the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.); Uruguay (effective November 1, 2007).

In the United Kingdom, civil partnerships have identical legal status to a marriage, and partners gain all the same benefits and associated legal rights; ranging from tax exemptions and joint property rights, to next-of-kin status and shared parenting responsibilities. Partnership ceremonies are performed by a marriage registrar in exactly the same manner as a secular civil marriage. Civil unions in New Zealand are identical to British civil partnerships in their association with equivalent spousal rights and responsibilities to fully-fledged heterosexual marriage.

…

Full marriage is presently available to same-sex couples in seven countries. The Netherlands was the first country to allow same-sex marriage in 2001. Same-sex marriages are also recognized in Belgium, Canada, South Africa, Spain, and the U.S. state of Massachusetts

Irish Green Party Policy on Same Sex relationships? Marriage? Civil Unions? Rights for non registered co-habitants – ah remember that?

Private member Bills are never perfect, neither is government proposed legislation – that is what amendments are for. But in the real world private members Bills are not usually accepted unless you are Alan Shatter T.D. But with a government main party so well known for long fingering things, the sayings of Bertie at the openings of gay organisations and community centres were wearing very thin.

So in world where equality is given it’s full meaning and the Greens stand by their principles, we should have expected far far more that the rubbish promised last night and danced out in press releases as a victory. Heads of a bill published in 6 months dealing with other types of relationships and governed by some Agency – introducing new forms of half rights and lots of wrongs.

I have been berated for being too hard on the Greens – been told that I don’t know how hard they had to work on the issue to get the March ‘08 commitment. If that is hard work I’d hate to see you in a real crisis lads. I’m not even one of the queers looking for use of the M (marriage) word – but with what Lenihan has hinted at and Ciaran Cuffe himself has revealed we’re not even going to get full civil partnership rights – just a load of nods and winks (Kieran Rose from GLEN called it a Hire Purchase Agreement this morning – I think that is going to stick!) hidden under a carpet along with a string of other types of friendships, blood relationships and house-sharers.

Principled Pragmatists (PP) is what Ciaran Cuffe describes his position as on Morning Ireland this morning – oh that’s far too generous- get the stuff right the first time – give Marie Geoghegan Quinn a call – she brought full equality in 14 years ago the first time round and that was sex between men she was dealing with! (Update: More on the Greens and PP over with Dermod.)

In their first major test the Greens have sold us out – keeping us in our lowly places not equal at all. Shame…

Archbishops House must be really quite happy today at the plans…I’ll be putting up the speeches from last nights debate later today for a bit of further dissemination. The Oireachtas Website is fairly inaccessible at times – people need to see how they were cast aside.

PS: Congratulations to the Lesbians and Gay Men in Uruguay who get civil partnership rights from today – so do heterosexual couples, no mention of aunts, brothers, hire purchasing or housesharers there.

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