Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Irish parliament to consider civil union bill
01.27.2009 12:24pm EST
(Dublin) Legislation to allow same-sex couples to form civil unions will be presented to Irish lawmakers in the spring session of Parliament, the government announced Tuesday.
The bill is modeled after Britain’s Civil Partnership law, which grants all of the rights of marriage except the name.In Dublin, Government Chief Whip Pat Carey said that the Irish legislation would allow gay and lesbian couples to have their unions registered in clerk’s offices.
Partners would have to be 18-years of age or over, not be related and not be in other committed relationships such as opposite-sex marriages.
Gay and lesbian couples intending to have civil partnerships will have to give 90-days notice of their wish to register.
The legislation covers areas such as pensions and property rights for partners and it provides for ending relationships which fail.
The government has dismissed calls from LGBT groups to bring in full marriage ,saying it prevented from doing so by the Irish constitution, which states the government must protect the institution of marriage.
Recent public opinion polls show that 84 percent are in favor of some recognition of same-sex couples, while 53 percent would allow gay couples to marry.
The bill is expected to pass Parliament with the help of the opposition Greens Party, but 20 members of the governing Fianna Fail Party have said they will vote against it.
Morgan, my article was written on February 16, 2007 for “Equal Marriage for Same-sex Couples” (Canada). …I made a type-O in the title earlier… but you can see now that I have corrected it. Nevertheless, I agree with you that Corzine has “evolved”. Maybe it was the near fatal car accident or his not pursuing a bid for President. Who know?
One thing is for certain though — he was NOT in favor of Marriage Equality then for same-sex couples.
As I wrote in my article in 2007:
“It appears that the Democratic Governor of New Jersey refused to the sign the “Civil Union” bill after it reached his desk until enough time elapsed to assure the bill would not become active in time for same-sex couples to celebrate their “Civil Unions” on February 14th, 2007.
It seems the governor did not want the national publicity of so many happy Gay couples getting hitched on Saint Valentine‘s Day. What a real piece of work Governor Jon S. Corzine has turned out to be. I guess that means he’s considering a run for president in the future. Typical.”
************************
Well, that was yesterday…this is today. I truly hope he and the state will soon support full equality for GLBT couples. It is time to show ethical due diligence on this issue and not be a part of a morally corrupt system that perpetuates discrimination.
~ Bud Evans
http://rainfish2000.blogspot.com
I agree with Chris Sullivan in some points …
Look at Denmark,Norway, Sweden, and the rest of Scandinavia, These countries have created civil partenership between 1989 and 2000 … And now Norway has same sex marriage, Iceland, Sweden and Denmark are going to legalize it this year or next year !
I live in Switzerland, in 2005 we had legalized civil partnership, and now
When you have a national civil union bill, eg like in England, you have essentially full equality. Not the mess here where you may get state legal equality, but so many things like federal inheritance laws, pension sharing, employer sponsored med insurance are actually regulated federally.
And if I was gay, I’d be perfectly happy if an Englishman being in a Civil Union. I wouldn’t want anything the spoke or sounded like religion attached to my partnership
And bravo for Ireland. I knew this was coming. Another slap in the face for IL Papa, who can’t seem to forget his youth, having been born in Germany about 1928.
I’m smiling. Someday, prob not in our lifetime, the Vatican, and lots of these so called (right wing) christian churches will be nothing but museums. Monuments dedicated to teaching people how mankind is so gullible, and how the Name of God was used to propagate some of the worlds greatest crimes