Landmark legal ruling in Ireland:

Lesbian couple with child ‘a de facto family’

THE HIGH Court has ruled that a lesbian couple living together in a long-term committed relationship with a child can be regarded as a de facto family enjoying rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.

In a judgment that will have an impact on the debate about legislating for same-sex couples, Mr Justice John Hedigan has said that the best interests of a child lay in remaining with his mother and her female partner, denying guardianship and access rights to the child’s biological father, who donated the sperm to the mother.

Legislation to protect the rights of cohabiting couples, including those of the same sex, is due to be published soon.

The father, a gay friend of the couple, yesterday lost his High Court bid for guardianship and access rights. It is believed he will appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.

Mr Justice Hedigan said there was nothing in Irish law to suggest that a family of two women and a child “has any lesser right to be recognised as a de facto family than a family composed of a man and a woman unmarried to each other”.

He said the rights of a man who acted as a sperm donor were at least no greater than those of an unmarried father. In considering his application for guardianship the child’s welfare was the paramount consideration.

He believed there existed such personal ties between the couple and the child as to give rise to family rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights which do not conflict with Irish law.

Gay ‘marriages’ soon to be legal according to the Independent anyway....

Thursday November 01 2007

Gay couples will be recognised for the first time in the history of the State, but it will probably come at a cost to the taxpayer.

Same sex couples will be allowed to legally register their partnerships under new laws currently being drawn up.

The move will have implication for a “myriad” of people in other co-habiting relationships.

Gay couples in civil unions will be allowed to register their partnerships, which will then gain legal protection.

But the Government is holding back from giving gay couples the same rights as married couples.

Cost

Giving all gay and co-habiting couples the exact same tax benefits as married couples would cost anything up to €2bn a year (LOL)

The Government will now have to decide what tax advantages to give to gay and, by extension, co-habiting couples.

And if these couples are to be granted tax benefits, the coalition will have to decide how to pay for this move.

It can either take the hit in the coffers or go down the less likely route of making married couples pay more tax by removing the present tax advantages enjoyed by married couples, so that all income earners are treated the same.

It is not yet clear though exactly how far the legislation will go in terms of legal and tax recognitions. The knock-on effect of the move to recognise gay couples will be to give certain financial rights to economically dependent co-habitants at the end of their relationship.

The initial details of the legislation will be ready by next March and the measure will be enacted at some point before the next general election.

Legislation

The Green Party was claiming victory on the issue, but Labour said the junior coalition partners had only got a vague promise to legislate at some time in the future.

The Government move came about because Labour again put its own Civil Union Bill on the agenda of the Dail.

Last time it was tabled by Labour, the bill had the full backing of the Greens.

Labour’s own proposed Civil Union Bill went further than the Government’s plan as it was designed to give same sex unions the same status as marriage. The Attorney General advised the Labour Party’s plan would not stand up to legal challenge as it clashes fundamentally with the Constitution’s recognition of the family and the status of married couples.

Justice Minister Brian Lenihan pledged to publish legislation next year.

The legislation will draw heavily on the Colley report setting out the options available to the Government and a report on the issue by the Law Reform Commission.

“It represents a recognition by Government of the many forms of relationships in modern society, and an important step very particularly for homosexual couples, whose relationships have not previously been given legal recognition,” the Mr Lenihan said.  Voted no: it was to be expected as there has to be a majority acceptance. Another disgrace for this country....

Shortly before Christmas, Brendan Howlin TD, published, on behalf of the Labour Party, a private members bill that would create a status relationship equivalent to marriage for the benefit of people who are of the same sex and who, under the current constitutional understanding of marriage, cannot marry each other.

Labour belives that those who choose to enter into a civil union should enjoy vital legal rights which married couples take for granted, in areas such as inheritance and taxation. Labour’s Civil Union Bill would bring to end many of the routine forms of institutionalised discrimination that exist in our society and which impinge on in a very real way on people’s lives.

On Feb. 20th and 21st (Tuesday and Wednesday next) from 7-8.30pm, Labour will introduce its Civil Union Bill to the Dail for debate.

Anyone wishing to attend the debate please confirm attendance in advance, by 5pm on Monday, Feb.19th.

A copy of Labour’s Civil Union Bill is located in the files section in the API mailing list.

For further information or to confirm your attendance, contact Cathy Flanagan, Campaigns Officer at 01.6184715 or email: cathy.flanagan@labour.ie

SA same-sex marriage law signed- from the BBC

South Africa is the first African country to approve such unions
South Africa’s Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka has signed the Civil Union Act which gives same-sex couples the right to marry.

South Africa will be the first African country where gay people can wed when the law comes into force on Friday.

The law was approved by MPs two weeks ago despite objections from religious groups and traditional leaders.

The Constitutional Court ruled last year that the existing laws discriminated against homosexuals.

The Civil Union Act gives gay people the same rights as heterosexual couples.

The ruling was based on the constitution, which was the first in the world specifically to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation.

It is a historic decision in terms of the African continent. This is unusual in Africa where homosexuality is largely taboo - notably in its neighbour Zimbabwe.

Reuters news agency reports that religious groups had mounted a last-ditch effort to block the new marriage law, demanding a referendum on the issue.

“To force the morality of the radical homosexual minority on the people of South Africa through law is, in effect, to lead the masses astray,” the Christian Action Network said in a statement.

But gay activists have welcomed the law.

“We are very happy. We welcome the political commitment shown by the country’s leaders,” said Fikile Vilakazi spokeswoman for the Joint Working Group, a network gay organisations, AFP news agency reports.

“It is an historic decision in terms of the African continent.”

During the parliamentary debate earlier this month, Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula told MPs: “In breaking with our past… we need to fight and resist all forms of discrimination and prejudice, including homophobia.”

22/10/06 From the Sunday Tribune:

THE LAW AS IT NOW STANDS

LESBIAN and gay people are currently not entitled to marry in Ireland, nor are there any alternative forms of legal recognition such as civil partnership. Lobby groups are seeking legislative change to this on equality grounds, including equal access to marriage, equality in legal recognition of de facto relationships, and equality in other proposed models of legal recognition such as civil partnership.

Over the past year, developments on these issues have included:

>> the establishment by Justice Minister Michael McDowell of a working group on domestic partnership, on which GLEN is represented;

>> an amendment to the Parental Leave Act which extends force majeure leave to employees in relationships of ‘domestic dependence’, including same sex couples;

>> the inclusion of issues relating to same-sex couples in the Department of Justice’s discussion document Immigration and Residence in Ireland, in advance of the forthcoming Immigration and Residence Bill.

Regarding adoption, the current legal situation is that married couples can adopt, and single persons can adopt irrespective of their sexual orientation, but unmarried couples (including same-sex couples) cannot adopt, although they can foster children.

Full equality for gay couples must mean the right to be parents

THE results of our poll today on gay marriage and adoption underline just how this country is moving slowly to become a more liberal nation which respects and protects minorities within society.

It also highlights how our “leaders” and legislators are lagging far behind public sentiment in terms of social legislation. A very clear majority of people . . . some 64% . . . support the right of same-sex couples to equal financial and legal rights as heterosexual married couples.

Their opinions could have been influenced by the very strong arguments recently made in the High Court by lesbian couple Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan who want their Canadian marriage to be recognised here.

The outcome of that case is being eagerly awaited by gay couples and their families, many of whom are disappointed that the government has not legislated for gay partnership in the same way as in Britain and the North.

However, the poll is not all good news for gay people: it also reveals an underlying cohort of prejudice against full acceptance of gay couples’ rights to a family. When asked whether gay couples should be allowed to legally adopt children, the Sunday Tribune Millward Brown IMS poll reveals us as less positive.

Half those surveyed do not believe gay couples should be allowed to adopt, while 37% believe they should . . . and a significant 13% don’t know The irony is that the law currently prohibits gay people from marrying . . . but allows them to both foster and adopt children. But our failure to legislate for gay marriage leaves both children and long-term partners vulnerable in the event of death or separation.

The checks carried out on couples before adoption or fostering are rigorous and include a complete emotional and psychological examination of the motivation of the foster or adoptive parent.

As the Kinsey-esque survey of Irish modern sexual mores published this week revealed, it’s rather more rigorous than the all too commonplace way a lot of people become parents . . . drunken coitus without using contraception.

Gay couples married in Dublin
John Burke

FIVE gay couples have been married in Dublin this year despite the lack of legislation allowing for such partnerships.

The Sunday Tribune has learned that the British Embassy in Dublin, which is regarded as British territory, has been hosting civil partnership ceremonies for the last few months. The first was held on 18 August and there have been four since. They are conducted under UK law.

Three male couples and two female couples have been married at the embassy. The conditions stipulate that at least one of the two persons intending to obtain a civil partnership should be a British citizen.

So far, there have been no Irish-British unions either booked or carried out.

In order to comply with British law, the ceremony is conducted in a public area of the embassy so that anyone can come along and object to the wedding going ahead.

So far, no one has attempted to ruin any couple’s big day in such a fashion.

“There are procedures that we have to follow and one of these is that it is in a public area, “ an embassy spokesman said. “Most of the information in relation to this is on our website.

“We also tend to point out that there are better places to conduct a civil partnership than in the public area of an embassy when we get enquiries.”

The revelation comes as a Sunday Tribune Millward Brown IMS poll this weekend shows that 64% of Irish people believe that same sex couples should be granted the same legal and financial rights as married couples.

Although 26% believed they should not, a further 10% did not know or had no opinion.

The Late Late Show

We have decided not to do the Late Late Show after much ruminating, on the grounds that it would devalue our aims and serve only to feed the void that is the vast-unwashed,shoulder-chipped, complexed, bible-bashed, cardi-clad populace. What we are doing is neither phenomenal nor unique and in order to achieve assimilation we will continue to heighten awareness until access to services, childrens’ rights are asserted and fertility treatment in Ireland is fully and openly available to all gay couples and single women. Being interviewed by the gauche Late Late team would no more further our aims than a cosy chat with the parish priest and cackling henchmen. Gilligan and Zappone, the couple seeking recognition in Ireland of their Canadian marriage still had to blink their way through unbelievably idiotic comments and patronising dross (paraphrased); “Dev introduced the concept of “family” and its protection” of course, probably just as he had finished signing the book of condolences at the German Embassy on the event of Hitler’s suicide. We would have no interest in defending ourselves, or having to fight our corner as it is our right to be accepted for the reality of who we are and what we wish for our children. The Late Late has also recently interviewed a convicted paedophile .We naturally could never be party to tactlessness and utter evil; this stupidity speaks for itself.

Kudos however to the Late Late researcher, as I can appreciate the trouble she has gone to to get us to appear.

Update: A couple from East Cork did the show yesterday (Saturday 21/10/06) who came across very well. The usual pithy questions were chucked in unfortunately trivialising the issue but what should one expect from a show for “the people”...well done girls, pity they don’t know about the existence of API, we need to strengthen our numbers to be better represented in society.

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An information booklet, for donor and recipient
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1x small plastic cup

Ovulation strips can be ordered on request as SI pack plus, the full pack coming to €40. with your orders. Please let us know whether you require the SI pack plus or partial pack in your order. In order to pay for the pack it will be necessary for you to set up a account (this will only take a few moments)

This site’s disclaimer applies to SI packs.

NEWS

Lesbians begin landmark bid for rights of marriage from The Independant

A LESBIAN couple who have lived together for more than 20 years and been married for three went to the High Court yesterday to have their Canadian marriage recognised here.

Katherine Zappone and her partner Anne Louise Gilligan say the State’s refusal to recognise their Canadian marriage or permit them to marry here has caused them personal distress as well as financial loss through the Revenue Commissioners’ failure to treat them, for tax purposes, in the same way as a married couple.

Dr Zappone and Dr Gilligan, both Irish citizens, met in 1980 as students while doing post-graduate work in Boston and they have been living together since 1981. They married in Canada in 2003.

Dr Zappone, a member of the Human Rights Commission, and Dr Gilligan, an academic at St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, now live in Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow.

Their barrister, Michael Collins, told Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne that the fundamental right to marry must be “the right to marry the person you love” and that the ban on same-sex marriage here breached human dignity.

Mr Collins said the State gave the right to marry to convicted criminals, sex abusers and people who had to be directed to pay maintenance to their children; yet it refused the same right to persons because of their gender and sexual orientation.

The court would have to determine the nature and essence of marriage, he said. A “white dress and a bride cannot be regarded as the definitive determining factors”.

The State had failed in its defence to articulate any clear justification for the ban on same-sex marriages; the refusal to recognise the couple’s Canadian marriage; or for the ban on treating them as a married couple for tax purposes, Mr Collins said. There were only general references to the “common good”.

A letter to the couple from the Revenue Commissioners had stated that, as the tax laws here referred to husband and wife and the Oxford English Dictionary defined those terms as a “married man” and “married woman”, then the couple were not entitled to the same allowances as a married couple.

There were four possible justifications for the ban which may be advanced by the State, Mr Collins suggested. These were (1) the traditional understanding of marriage as between a heterosexual man and woman; (2) that children fared better in heterosexual marriages; (3) that an essential feature of marriage is the ability to procreate and same-sex couples could not do that without assistance and (4) that a majority in society disapproved of homosexual unions and conduct.

But he said that with the changing concept of marriage none of these arguments withstood scrutiny . Divorce had been introduced; and marriages between sterile couples or those who who did not wish to have children were not prohibited.

“Mere unpopularity, distaste or disapproval” for same-sex marriages, even if this was a majoruty view, could never constitute a legitimate purpose for the ban.

The hearing is expected to last several weeks.

Ann O’Loughlin

Gauntlet of love laid down at door of the Constitution

WHAT do bigamists, convicted criminals, prisoners, paedophiles and deadbeat dads have in common? They all can marry.

But fall in love with someone of the same sex and the gates to marital bliss are closed forever.

There is no doubting the strength of the marital bond between Dr Zappone and Dr Gilligan. Seated side-by-side, the pair exchanged supportive glances throughout the hearing as the packed courtroom was told they were “entirely suited to marriage”.

By suing the Revenue Commissioners, the couple have sidestepped a direct challenge to the Constitution, which upholds the institution of marriage.

But in essence, the tax case is laying down the gauntlet of love at the door of the Constitution.

If their case is successful, it will allow gay couples to marry abroad and have their marriages legalised on return to Ireland. Alternatively, a successful verdict - that would infer the right of same-sex couples to marry with the Constitution’s blessing - would usurp the view of marriage as that between a man and a woman.

Yesterday, their lawyers outlined four global justifications for the ban against same-sex marriage. Most are familiar: marriage has always been between man and woman, children fare better in heterosexual unions, same sex couples can’t conceive naturally. But chief amongst these is society’s historic and deep-seated opposition to homosexual union and conduct. This could be the couple’s biggest hurdle.

Test cases, such as that launched by Ms Zappone and Ms Gilligan, are being staged in courtrooms throughout the common law world, but despite efforts to sacrifice private morality at the altar of political correctness, success is not guaranteed.

Last August, Celia Kitzinger and Sue Wilkinson lost their High Court battle. The university professors, who like Ms Zappone and Ms Gilligan were also married in Vancouver in 2003, used human rights laws to argue their union should have full legal status under English law.

Canada was one of the first countries to legalise same-sex marriages. Besides Canada, Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium have legalised same-sex marriage, while Britain and some European countries have laws that give same-sex couples the right to form legally binding partnerships.

DEARBHAIL McDONALD

Gays demand legislation now to make them equal in eyes of the law

GAY and lesbian couples are calling for the immediate introduction of legislation to allow them to marry.

Although civil partnerships have been legalised in Northern Ireland, the Government here has postponed any decision until the report of a working group is published.

The National Gay and Lesbian Federation said it was time to introduce legislation which would make gay people equal in the eyes of the law.

“Critically we are asking you to act now - not in the next Dail term, not after the votes for the next election are safe, not after the judiciary has considered the matter,” said its chairwoman, Ailbhe Smyth.

In a speech outside Leinster House, she called on politicians to use their power to introduce civil partnership legislation without any “ifs, ands, buts or half-measures”.

“As long as our laws refuse to give same-sex relationships the same legal status and entitlements of heterosexual relationships, they continue to profoundly and blatantly deny Irish citizens the right to recognition of their most intimate humanity.”

A lesbian couple are currently seeking to have their Canadian marriage recognised under Irish law in the High Court.

Ms Smyth said her federation supported Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan in their quest to get legal recognition for “the most important, most intimate and most meaningful relationship in their lives”.

She said the Constitution, which was drawn up in 1937, only recognised the heterosexual martial structure and thus profoundly discriminated against other family units.

“This is 2006. You would be hard pushed to find any person in Ireland who does not know somebody - a daughter, a son, a friend, a friend’s son or daughter - who is not living within this narrowly recognised unit.”

According to the 2002 census, the number of cohabiting couples has almost doubled since 1996 to 77,000 families and this includes 1,300 in same-sex relationships.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said that all citizens should stand equal in the eyes of the law, regardless of sexual orientation, but he has also warned that there will not be time to enact civil partnership legislation before the forthcoming general election.

The civil partnership legislation in Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK has been described as marriage in almost all but name.

Gay couples, or co-habiting couples, who enter into such a partnership are entitled to the same treatment as married couples in financial matters. They are also entitled to next-of-kin rights.

Michael Brennan

The United Nations definition of family:

‘The family is technically defined as ‘any combination of two or more persons who are bound together by ties of mutual consent, birth and/or adoption or placement and who, together, assume responsibility for, inter alia, the care and maintenance of group members, the addition of new members through procreation or adoption, the socialization of children and the social control of members.’