Nice comment. As great as It would seem, I was subjected to more than my amount of ‘Homophobia’ in a Dublin bar tonight.
Here I was sat with my partner enjoying our 2nd year together as a couple, and there was sat 3 well dressed Muslim males shaking their heads in disbelief and doing their best to intimidate my partner and I. Though when they seemed less angered, they were able to share a whisper followed by continuous stares towards us all one foot away.
This resulted in us leaving before our drinks were finished. As we were leaving, one of them shared what would seem a gesture in his best Arabic tone. There was passion in his comment. But the passion was not the sort that you love to see, but a passion dressed in anger.
How disgusting or out of order we may have seemed, the fact of the matter is that we were sat in our own country where thankfully homosexuality IS legal. For that alone I’m grateful, but moments like what I’ve just witnessed makes me think…
When I die I believe that we go to dust. I would never be sick enough to believe there will be 43 virgins awaiting my desires… They were enjoying their ‘Alcoholic’ drink too. I never judged that!

Yeah, unfortunately you were forced to leave due to the close mindedness of others! It would be interesting to see their reaction had you been acting in a similar fashion in regards to their religion. I can assure you that they would have been highly offended that you insulted their religion, yet they see it as ok to insult the love between you and your partner!

That’s sad, Russell Boy. Hopefully you and your partner can enjoy the rest of your anniversary in peace.

People should be left alone, no matter what their sexual preferences are. The three lads probably spent the rest of their evening eying up any lady that entered their view, but ended the night alone with YouPorn and a Zaytoon kebab. Take some solace from that.

Good luck to ya, man. But, as a side point. Do you also support mass immigration from non western nations(like most that support gay marriage). Cause, if you do. Well…….

The term turkeys voting for Christmas spring to mind.

What were strict Muslims doing in a bar?

Damocles. There story is probably made up that’s why they were there

How’d you know they were Musilms?

Next time just start smiling and snogging!

Cheers folks for the words.

As for @Diego, My story was NOT fabricated, and as we walked home I actually raised the point that they were actually so intimidating that they looked like they wanted to get physical about it.

They were all suited and Middle Aged. And I could have said they were doctors, but that would have been ‘made up’
The annoying thing about it was they chose to sit where they did, fully knowing our situation, and their own for that matter.
The bar was on upper Leeson street and we do frequent there maybe 2/3 times a month.

They were clearly practicing their beliefs, and that’s fine by me. But not on my time, nor in my space. Especially when I’m acting in a civil manner and at my most legal.

Sláinte.

They can’t have been practicing their beliefs all that well if they were in an establishment serving alcohol.

@Damocles – Most certainly. 3 glasses of White wine (drank fastly) followed by 3 beers.
And perhaps they weren’t practicing it at all, but that didn’t stop their judgement.

@Boy Russell. You don’t have to be practicing religion to be a homophobic arsehole ;-)

@shit you not – True!

Why is it always the church.I am a practicing Christian and proud of it.I do not comment on the beliefs or practices of others as tolerance is a core principle of Christianity .I read with with great sadness the constant castigating of the Christian faith perhaps a little Christian tolerance would not be amiss from our Agnostic contributors .

@Ghandi – If you look at most of the comments on any issue relating to same sex marriage or gay rights, you will find a decent amount of trolls who post inflammatory things under the guise of being practising Christians (and other faiths)

They tend to give people like yourself a bad name. However fair play to you for holding to your own beliefs but not trying to force them upon others. You should also take into account that Ireland has had a very rough time with the Catholic church, and for some relations with the church are soured beyond reparation.

I am not religious myself but I understand and appreciate the value religion has to some people. It is just unfortunate, especially in religious groups, those who have least to say, seem to shout the loudest.

@Ghandi You are right, tolerance is a core precept of Christianity and I appluad you for saying it, you clearly understand that Christianity is about tolerance, love, equality and expressing a faith that there is a greater power than man in this universe. The problem is that a lot of the most vocal Christians do not practice it, or for that matter even preach it which is ultimately sad as I am sure Jesus would be highly disgusted by their behaviour.

There are lots of vitriolic comments about the negative aspects of what Christianity has become mainly from those that have been persecuted by Christianity in some way. There is also anger towards the Catholic Church for the many ills that have outweighed all the good that they did.

I think there needs to be a lot of forgiveness from all sides, otherwise we will never be able to move on.

Leaving The Constitution Aside! Is The Catholic Church (Against) “Same Sex Marriage!?” I Rest My Case!

Leaving The Constitution Aside! Is The Catholic Church (Against) Same Is Same Sex Marriage!?’

Frankly Ghandi, Christianity deserves that castigation, it and other religions are responcible for the vast majority of homophobia in the world, I’d challenge you to name one major secular group that has as consistantly contributed to the persicution of LGBT people as the Roman Church.
To this day, they continue to use every resource at their disposal to fight every push for our rights and spread the most horrible lies about us and libel us at every opportunity.
In particular, they continue to hurt young LGBT people, who in this country have to hide who they are due to the culture of fear they endure in their church controlled schools and who lack access to any sort of support and while bearing that burren on their small shoulders have to lissen to this bile coming from the church, imaging the kind of damage growing up with that does to you.
I’m told that their are moderate, devoted Catholics.
I’m told that their are moderate, devoted Muslims.
But when it comes to condeming the bigotry of their co-religionists, the silence is deafening.

Amen to that Sheila.

Apologies for iPhone errors and autocorrects!

This is not advancement why do you think we have male and female how are two males going to procreate

Mohammed, only about 6% of people are gay, allowing us to get married isn’t going to increase that percentage and it isn’t going to cause some demographic collapse as some religious alarmists have suggested.
LBGT people are however more likely to adopt and to adopt older and special needs children who normally have little chance for adoption, would you really deny those children a good home with a family recognised and protected by the state?

Mohammed.
By that rationale, should infertile couples be permitted to marry? They can’t procreate either.. Indeed, some people choose to marry who have no intentions of procreating – should *they* be permitted to marry?

It’s about more than procreation you know. Not everyone wants kids, and those that do and can’t, can adopt. Goodness knows there’s enough children in desperate need of a loving home in this world.

@Mohammed Yaya

Of course they can’t!!! just as much as two females can’t!!!! There are many, millions of little children, unwanted and unloved in the world, that is where fostering and adoption comes in. There is where another type of family evolves. That child will be loved and educated as good as if not better than a child from a heterosexual couple.

Dublin City Council already passed it in September.

If that’s what happens I will respect the majority decision, well at least I would if there was a level playing field in terms of campaigning. One tries to argue against and the liberal lynch mob are calling for blood. and 10,000, 5,000, how many will actualy turn out to vote, how many are registered to vote, how many were just spectators seeing what was going on, seeing why drag queens were prancing around in the nation’s capital in broad daylight. 15 – 20 thousand votes, still isn’t that many. That’s why they don’t want a referendum. The want to cut corners.

If the US held a vote on the civil rights of black people do you think it would have passed? If most of the nations of the world had held a referendum on universal suffrage would it have passed? When the rights of people are desided by majority that’s not democracy that’s mob rule.
No one has prevented opponents of marriage equality from airing their views, in fact the laws about hate speech have been stretched far to allow some of the bile that has come from that lobby.
You complain that if it comes to a vote there will not be a level playing field, well maybe that’s because most Irish people have no problem with LGBT people.
And if it comes to a referendum Amhlaoibh, then we will be out their mobilising as many of our supporters as we can, getting unregistered people into their council offices to register and we will be out there on the streets, winning new supporters by showing the people of Ireland that we are people just like them and that our right to marry will hurt no one but will protect some of the most vunerable families in this country.
And what will your side be doing Amhlaoibh besides scaremonger and fall back on old stereotypes?

Where does it say David that you have the “right” to marry if you’re gay? Marriage status isn’t a right it’s a privilege and don’t go putting yourself in the same category of the civil rights campaigners in the US, it’s a different situation totally

Where did it say that women should have the right to vote or that black people should have the same civil rights as a white person before they were granted those rights? People realized how much damage those people not having that right was doing to those communities and how little it would hurt themselves to grant those rights to them and desided to make things right.
If you want to take that reductionist view of human rights then no one is entitled to any rights and its the rule of the strong over the weak.
We are not doing this only for ourselves but for the generations of LGBT people yet unborn. As it stands today, the rate of suicide and depression amoung LGBT teenagers is far higher then their straight peers and that comes from the bigotry and intollerance they have to endure every day, if something like that was happening to your community, you’d be fighting to fix it to.
In the words of Harvey Milk; “you gotta give ‘em hope”.

No one is saying they “can’t love that person” Eddie, like saying to the crazy man no, you’re not allowed be crazy. The whole point is the majority of people in the country don’t want equal marriage status granted to homosexuals. Don’t over simplify things to convey your ludacris views.

Amhlaoibh where are you getting your statistic that “most” people in Ireland don’t want equal marriage status between heterosexuals and homsexuals? Do please let me know as I am interested in understanding how that survey was carried out from a social perspective.

I have encountered the most intransigent ubber conservative christians who actually think granting homsexuals marriage may actually reduce what they consider the deviance of homsexuality and therefore want it to come in. I have encountered gay people who don’t get what the fuss is about it and that they are perfectly happy with civil partnership. But I have never encountered a statistic that says what you just did.

There is no shame. The people want this. Your backward, hateful views don’t matter. Deal with that. Go say a prayer of something.

It always baffles me how people like you can use the internet; surely you belong in the stone age?

Lol Grainne your truth is your opinion and my truth is my opinion. I am a scientist and I can entertain any and all opinions, and once I consider them I can either accept them and benefit from added knowledge or I can discard them.

That is the benefit of having an open and rational mind. Unlike yours which is closed and limited. Any rational thinker would consider the comments I have observed from you here as irrational and troll like.

By the way your picture gives bunnies a bad rap!

C’mon Grainne….how does it undermine opposite sex marriage? I’m genuinely interested.

Its hard to believe it was so long ago, but the Netherlands has granted same sex marriage since 2001! Their society hasn’t collapsed and gone into ruin.

Same sex marriage harms no one and I can’t think why for any reason, you would hope against the happiness of another pair of human beings who are just trying to get on with their own lives.

Grainne – be careful, he’s a scientist, they’re never wrong about anything

@Amhlaoibh… Careful Now…. Down with that sort of thing.

I’ll echo King Olaf Gràinne, I asked you to explain how exactly you felt it undermined marriage between a man and a woman and you never responded. I would genuinely like to hear your response.

That’ll be the next thing they;ll be pushing for Yilmaz. Society will be like the deleted scenes from the movie Bruno. Woe is Ireland

Unfamiliar with satire eh?
Bruno was exaggerated beyond belief to take pot shots at people who were so ignorant that they actually took him at his word and didn’t say “aren’t you a tad caraciture-ish?”.
Same way Borat and Ali G were before him.. Sadly you appear to fall into that category, whereas Sascha Baron Cohen and everyone else who watched the movie, were laughing at the responses of the people who fell for it.

If you think that would ever actually happen then you have revealed the source of your opposition to gay marriage. You made a hasty generalisation based upon a biased sample or perhaps a spotlight fallacy. It is not backed up by evidence or fact and is basically poor logic.
Hopefully now you can see this you may be able to learn from it and see some reality.

I feel like your profile picture is showing exactly what goes on in your brain….

LOL loving the trolling again Grainne.
And you claim that scientists f%%k up is of course correct, thats what we do, we experiment and experiment and experiment until we get it right. We peer review and we critique, and we ask for our experiments to be examined. We are open to criticism and we are open to new ideas. We evolve.

Only a closed mind would not entertain the opinions of another, and while I do find your opinions entertaining, that is all they merely are…. entertaining!

You on the other hand are none of the above, and if you work for NASA I am surprised none of the great minds that work there have rubbed off on you. Also if you truly work for NASA you would not have said the statement you made about scientists.

Your logic really does astound me!

@Conor Buggy

Graine reminds me of people like that Romney twit and Hitler, their views on life, religion etc. Sweet devine, and these people are in charge of huge army’s, armory etc. Grainne, please, open your mind, take the time to listen to others beliefs and understanding of life for all.

I’m not asking you to take sides. There are no sides and shouldn’t be, just listen to others. You’ll learn a lot.

Now if this comment isn’t the definition of irony, I don’t know what is.

Mohammed, They have as much right to express their skewed views as you do to express your skewed views.

By what right do religious people have to push their skewed views on everyone else?

It’s unclear from your punctuation, but are you claiming gay marriage is legal in India? In 2009 the Indian High Court partially scrapped the criminalisation of homosexuality law. Sounds like India is quite a long way from gay marriage being legal.

Mhammed Yaya

hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Did you read what you just wrote?????????

“What rights have gay people to try impose their skewed views on people? I am on of those ‘people’ you’re talking about. Gays are not, and never tried impose their ‘skewed views on others!! How dare you. The only people that have imposed their views are religious arseholes!!! Making it up as they go along and what suits them, is law, because they say so.

ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN EQUALLY! Get that into your head Mohammed Yaya……….

Isn’t that how democracy works?

Seen that most people voting are not gay.says it all.

Yeah, shame on these politicians pandering to what their constituents want. They should show some backbone.

Humans are animals.
We have evolved to have a conciousness which gives us the ability to think for ourselves… well most of us anyway!
And yes I am a scientist, as much as you are a troll!

Grainne, Keep your small minded opinions to one thread, your cluttering the forum.

For a start evolution is random and doesn’t happen at the same time across the board, your proof of that. As for ” have animals the power of rational thought ” I would say yes:rationality is the characteristic of any action, belief, or desire, that makes their choice a necessity. Kinda applies to most living things bar you.Why do you only associate anal sex with gay people is that all there is to a gay relationship, no time for jobs, family friends probably on the dole so that they can stay home all day going at it.Is that how you see gay people lol ill let you in on a secret-brace your self- straight couple have been known to have anal sex 2 lets take away there right to get married to i suppose.

Now why do you thing you should have a say on weather gay people can marry ???

I should have a say on what sort of society i want to live in, what sort of country I want my children growing up in as does every other citizen in this country, homosexual or not. The founders of this Republic shed blood for that right and over my dead body will that be taken away, especially by a mob of trendy lemmings or careerist politicians. Answered your question?!

Amhlaoibh, a Red C poll in January 2012 indicted 73% of voters would like to see gay marriage recognised by the constitution. As someone who is completely in favour of gay marriage, I would like to see a referendum tomorrow (although the idea of voting on human rights is itself dubious). My opinion about the reason for this level of support is that, as more people come out, their friends and family learn that this isn’t an obscure, ‘trendy’ issue- it is in fact a very major issue with practical implications for a large segment of Irish society. Society can embrace gay marriage, and increase the quality of life and mental well-being of gay people and their families, or society can continue to discriminate and continue to cause unnecessary mental anguish to many people. An increasing number of the Irish public is realising that this is, in fact, the kind of Ireland they want- tolerant and equal for all.

Ah democracy… were 51% of the population dictates how the other 49% live. Yes you do have the right to vote on constitutional changes,who runs government , what you eat for breakfast blablabla. Equality is one of my favourite rights that we have in this country and gay marriage should fall under that and shouldn’t be up for debate at all. It’s nice to know what sort of small values you want to pass on to your kids.gay people as couples have no rights as couples and that need to change.

Stephen, no one is discriminating against them, don’t take the p!ss. Discrimination is what went on in Northern Ireland in the 60′s. They just aren’t permitted to have equal marriage status as straight married couples, because it’s for men and women, that’s why it exists. Gays and their clingers on just want to feel good about themselves and at the cost of making a mockery of the institution of marriage. The clingers on just want desperately to fit in and be fashionable. And I wouldn’t go by everything the polls say, if that’s the case why aren’t the lobbiests calling for a referendum, why are the asking for equal marriage status to be granted will nilly. We all know what they will want next and will be even more pushy unless they’re stopped fast in their tracks

How do “gay people as couples have no rights as couples” ?? That’s nonsense, they can do whatever they like, they’re just not recognised as the same as straight couples. Marriage serves a purpose as does the status that goes with it, for homosexuals it’s just the feel-good factor, it’s utterly self-serving adn is of no benefit at best to society

Yes Darren that’s the system and if you don’t like it I suggest you move to North Korea, your views are similar to theirs

Maybe the clingers on just care about the happiness of their gay sons, their lesbian daughters, their LGBT friends and family.
If gay people are not discriminated against then why to most gay people realize they’re gay at 12/13 yet hid it until they leave secondary school, why can an LGBT person adopt as an individual but not as a couple, why can’t a gay person be legally treated as a next of kin to their partner like a husband and wife can, why is it not safe for a gay couple to walk down O’Connell Street holding hands?
What makes it not discrimination that as far as this state is conserned our love, relationships and families are considered less worthy of protection then straight peoples? Answer me that Amhlaoibh.

@Amhlaoibh – Your North Korea example is highly moronic. You don’t vote on people’s basic human rights is his point. If African-Americans rights were voted on 50 years ago they would still be second class citizens in America. But the problem with people like you is that you are bigots and try to play the victim card when you’re really the one try to oppress others.

“Sean if you’re all about free speech and freedom of expression perhaps you might direct some of your comments at the pro-gay bigots on here not respecting the opinions of their opponents and stop being such a damn hypocrite.”

This comment demonstrates you’re lacking in understanding what free speech/freedom of expression actually is. Sean can direct his comments to whoever he likes and condemn their opinions as much as he likes. Sean does not have to respect other people’s opinions or the way they express themselves but he needs to respect their right to do so; which he was.

From your comments I have seen you like to mock people by sarcastically calling them “scientists”. Your comments also depict someone who highly lacks education is science/psychology as well. The following link is from the American Psychological Association’s site. They are the world’s largest scientific/psychological association in the world.
http://www.apa.org/helpcenter/sexual-orientation.aspx

Maybe that might be the view back in India, or within your religion Muhammad – but what right have you to dictate your views on the rest of the population? This is Ireland – Here, the majority of the population is in favour of same-sex marriage. Your religious definitions of marriage do not matter, and you do not get to impose them on us.

Maybe that is what your common sense says and you are more than entitled to your opinion on the matter.

Take religion out of the picture and no one could argue against gay marriage. The procreation argument is null and void. The world’s population is too high, the more gay people there are the better.

Besides if you wanna give out to someone, blame heterosexual couples. Their the ones who keep giving birth to gay children.

Justin Bieber?

Common sense also would be the abolishment of slavery, equal rights for all…… Oh eh we have that dont we? But at the time some people thought differently and fought against it.

Well you cant fight the tide! Humanity will continue to evolve and the progressives will outlast the conservatives!

I presume he is referring to Dr.Irving Bieber, a relatively well known psychoanalyst in the 60s/70s…. he was well known because of his controversial beliefs on homosexuality. He thought someone could be cured or at least treated for it with psychotherapy.

The fact that Mohammed is referring to someone whose have been heavily discredited since the 80s really shows his line of thinking.

Spot on Mohammed, These yahoos think individual freedom to say black is white makes it so! Its actually shocking to see how brainwashed the latest generation are by liberal ideology.

Tough luck m o se. It’s coming and there isn’t a thing you or your Muslim friend can do about it. Hahahahahaha.

Sean if you’re all about free speech and freedom of expression perhaps you might direct some of your comments at the pro-gay bigots on here not respecting the opinions of their opponents and stop being such a damn hypocrite.

@Amhlaoibh MacCana – I can respect their right to free speech. But respect their opinion? Never. I am still waiting on that intelligent, rational argument against same sex marriage.

So am I, haven’t seen anything too convincing

@ M O Sé – Most people of the lastest generation are not brainwashed…in fact I would say for the most part, they are the most open minded generation so far. You on the other hand…well….you hold views and opinions based on your interpretation of a religious text, of which some of the earliest parts can be traced back nearly 3,500 years. Now I think that could easily be defined as being brainwashed. You call it faith though.

ManOnTheStreet, 90% of this country is catholic as reported by the census, they identify as defacto members of an organisation that opposses the proposterous notion of “gay marriage”. The 18 – 30ish libertine, liberal arts cert hippy “do what you feel like” generation who post on sites like this and thier leftist chums in the media will not get very far I can assure you. Ye are a blip on the radar, a readjustment of values is coming.

The blueshirts wont be passing this on thier watch, labour will melt down before the next election and SF wont dare destory the vote they get in the conservative nortth. Time to grow up and cop on lads.

King Olaf, I am not religious. Burn down some other strawman.

No, it’s coming m o se. Like I said, there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it.
And if you really believe that 90% of this country is catholic, then you are deluding yourself. I don’t care what they ticked on the census form.

@ M O Sé – My mistake then if you are not religious. I was sure that I had seen some posts from you on topics like this before, using religion as your reasoning behind not agreeing with same sex marriage. Apologies once again if I have gotten this wrong.

Although saying that, you use the 90% of this country are catholic argument above this post. I was born a catholic…on the last census I kept it at that….but I haven’t been to mass in nearly 13 years and I most definitely do not live my life to catholic principles. Much like the majority of “catholics” in this country.

Like it or not, it is no longer a case of “if” same sex marriage is granted….it is just a matter when it is granted. That time is fast approaching…and people with views like yours will fast be left behind.

If you don’t mind me asking, what are your reasons for being against same sex marriage?

And also M o se, your 18-30ish comment is perhaps one of the dumbest comments I’ve read. Since that age group is the child bearing age group, and they will pass their views on to their kids, it’s only a matter of time until the older religious generation has died off.
And Ireland will be a better place because of it.

Olaf, marriage is an arrangement between men and woman based on familial creation(outliers aside). In a normal society this would be self-evident. Treating homosexual arrangements the same as hetero married couples is both silly and insulting and based on absolutist notions of equality for its own sake – a sort of ultra liberal dogmatism. Under this dogma the person with a traditional understanding of marriage is painted as at best mean or ignorant or at worst an evil bigot.

ManOnTheStreet, if you read my comments correctly you would know I a not taking about all 18-30 years olds, fertility and religious belief are highly linked. Liberals & athiestic secular humanists dont have many children if at all. Your kind are in fact an endangered species.

Well, you carry on thinking that M o se, I just need to look around to see you are wrong.
The fact we are even discussing this, shows how wrong you are.
Times, they are a changing.

Common Sense is not always sensible. In this case it shows complete ignorance to nature. You can’t change a persons sexuality, they just are who they are. Try controlling who turns you on. YOU CAN’T.

If marriage is only about family fine, but then you are excluding infertile couples too. And those who do not wish to procreate, and as they are straight – you can’t do that can you?

So why exclude homosexuals on this count?

Is it because you have some assumption that all homosexual couples will want to adopt and if so, a further assumption that they will do a bad job?

Because look around you. There’s too many kids in orphanages and care the world over who deserve a stable, loving home. Straight people mess up kids too so it’s not as if its a shining example. The adoption agency should be assessing the couples ability to provide this based upon ability, not sexuality.

@Mohammed Yaya,

You speak of ‘common sense’. Well, that’s where same sex marriages should come in. Who said that it’s wrong, who said that a marriage is between a man and a woman????????? Religion? Aw right. They must be right so. NOBODY chose to be gay. Do you honestly think that males and females go out of their way to make life harder and more difficult for themselves being gay. You have no idea what goes through a young boy’s/girl’s mind when they are 9/10 years old. They don’t know what the hell is going on. They feel different, but cannot put a finger on it. I know of one child, now 20 years old thought he was dying at that young age. He thought he’d cancer and couldn’t tell his parents. Went through all his teenage years realizing then, that he was gay. Hid it from friends and family was close to taking his own life because he didn’t know what to do.

You have no idea Mohammed Yaya. Open your mind, talk to gay people, listen to them, to the pain, lonelyness, hurt, sad feelings they had for years because, they didn’t know what the hell was happening and when they did realize, how the hell were they going to tell their families? Please don’t assume any bible, holy books, religions are true. They’re not. They’re man made.

Oh stop!

This in no way affects opposite sex marriage, it simply calls on central government to extend the protections, rights and recognition of marriage to LGBT people in long term, stable and loving relationships and their families.

How exactly?

Two other adults love each other and want to make a lifetime commitment to one another. Is that not what marriage *is*?
Please, explain how on earth a different persons ability to marry undermines anyone else’s marriage?

You know what actually undermines the institution of marriage between a man and a woman? Divorce. Go complain about that and leave gay people to live their lives.

How?!

Not about ‘the institution of marriage between man and “a” woman” would have thought that was pretty obvious Sheila Byrne?

Ah would ya ever get with the times. . For goodness sake, been gay is not a new fad, its as old as old man time. And seriously. . . . If two people want to get married be they man to man or woman to woman. . . what’s the problem! You need to get off your high horse. it’s not like years ago when you married a right fecker and had to stay married to him even if he beat 7 bells out of ya or spent all his money in the pub because that was how it was. Times have changed and people have choices. So you just have to accept it!

ah here love, your profile picture is a rabbit.

As a divorced twenty something heterosexual, I can safely say that the homosexuals will not bring down the sanctity of marriage. That ship has long since sailed.

How exactly is that then Grainne?

That statement completely undermines your intelligence.

The constitution of Ireland as far as I am aware does not state that marriage is between man and women..

Lol ah lads do ye not know Grainne by now? She is a troll! Her comments are usually quite amusing. I would have invited her to my fabulous gay wedding if i could have!

Really, I thought divorce did that? Or adultery? You know, all those things that actually effect a marriage.

Yeah Grainne, how dare you have your own opinion! Who do you think you are eh? Do you think you are living in a democracy or something? Is this a republic? No it’s not, so Gay marriage is “modern” so you should not express your beliefs, you should take your opinions and go back to the “dark ages” and have all your comments blocked and you should be subjected to ridicule by the oh so clever and trendy pro-gay rainbow alliance. Freedom of speech for all – unless you have opinions out of the mainstream. Now, lets see those red thumbs :-)

@Amhlaoibh MacCana – When I hear a rational argument against same sex marriage with proven reasoning behind it…then I might listen to someone rant about the institution of marriage being undermined. Care to give it a shot??

@ King Olav – When I hear a rational arguement in favour of it. Grainne gave her opinion, much like most of the homosexuals and their pals on this, only difference is she is on the other side. So you’re happy to hear people “rant” in favour without looking for your rational arguements but not against. Do you ever stop and realise what a hypocrite you are?

@Amhlaoibh MacCana – There are plenty of arguments in favour of same sex marriage. Many people here are more qualified than I to give them based on their own experiences.

My reasoning for being favour of it…why should someone be prevented from being happy? How does it benefit society stopping a male or female couple from getting married and enjoying the same, equal rights their heterosexual counterparts have.

We are supposed to live in a free and equal society, where everybody is treated the same. This isn’t the case, so I want it changed. I have no interest in getting married, but if someone wants it they should not be allowed.

How can you argue against this?

Equality is just a myth Olav, equality is unatural and that’s what people know but are afraid to admit so they convince themselves otherwise.

A man and womans natural role in life is to produce the next generation. Special status and incentives are given to couples who enter union, a contract if you will, to help them do this. It is of benefit to society for men and women to have this. How does it benefit society to permit homosexuals to be regarded as equal, for homosexuals and their supporters it’s a desperate pushy attempt to be seen as equal, self-satisfactory.

This is just a step towards a nuttier society where they will start demanding adoption rights or worse. The politicians don’t care about their marriage, they only care about getting votes. the people don’t care, they are only concerned with being fashionable.

Also do you truely believe that we live in a fair and equal society when any who utters anything politically incorrect is taunted and jeered rather than debated? I believe in the family unit, a man and a woman performing their natural complimentary roles, not a bunch of clowns using the sacred institution of marriage to satify themselves

Stupid phone, that should read at the end, why should they not be allowed?

@Amhlaoibh MacCana – I had a proper and detailed response typed out for you…then I read your post again and noticed you saying equality is unnatural. I don’t think anything I can say will change your point of view.

Equality for all might still be a myth in practice, but I live in hope that some day, it will be the foundation of all societies and cultures on this planet. I think it is worth fighting for. It might not be natural….but then again a lot of things aren’t in human society. Not so long ago people were using this kind of logic to justify the use of African slaves….that changed.

Fair enough Olav, but if there’s to be equality people ought to be more tolerant of other peoples points of view and not shrieking in hatered, otherwise the equality is based on hypocrisy. I will take my chances in the real world and not delude myself into buying the media promoted notion of equality and sameness – it’s all very artificial

@ A MacCanna

Your post to King Olav

Your post below reminds me of the verbal diarrhea that was thrown at me when I had to (no choice in 1986) do a pre marriage course! You really don’t know about other human beings, you don’t want to know them, you’re not interested in their opinions and you assume you’re right! Well, sorry to burst your bubble, you’re so terrible wrong, about everything.

I am heterosexual. I believe everyone on this earth has a right to live in peace, in harmony with other human beings. The churches, religions invented the heterosexual marriage of two people. There were gay people millions of years ago, long before you were born. If there are children in the world that are homeless, beaten and/or neglected by their heterosexual parents, gay parents should have the right to offer that child a loving, warm home, where they will be thought about life, educated and then sent on their way into life itself when they are adults. Gay people do not choose to be gay. It is in them before they are born. The little life that’s inside a mother’s womb is taking it’s course. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the baby boy is born with too much of the female cells and vis a vis. Just happens. Nothing a doctor, any doctor can do about it. Accept it, gays are here to stay, were always here.