THE NO CAMPAIGN in the upcoming marriage referendum says that “many, many thousands” of people are being silenced.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin today, Keith Mills from Mothers and Fathers Matter said that there were members of both the public and Oireachtas members who had become afraid to voice their opinions.

He said that there was a characterisation of No campaigners as “homophobic bigots”, but that they were not motivated by hatred but by “a responsibility to vote…in the best interests of families”.

Mills added that he felt that the Referendum Commissioner Justice Kevin Cross is “impartial, but wrong” about the consequences of a Yes vote.

The No campaign say that Cross is answering questions “framed by the Yes campaign” and want their own questions answered.

Cross had told Newstalk FM this morning that there would be no right to surrogacy as a result of a Yes vote.

Dr Tom Finegan of Family and Life, said that Cross hadn’t specifically engaged with the No campaign’s questions, including those around the right to have children.

Fears around that issue have been downplayed by both Health Minister Leo Varadkar, who pledged to ban commercial surrogacy and the Special Rapporteur for Children, Geoffrey Shannon, who said on Monday that the adoption process won’t change, regardless of the vote.

Read: ‘Same-sex marriage referendum WON’T change adoption in Ireland’

Read: ‘No’ campaign slams funding cut for Catholic marriage-counselling service