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Labour will re-table Civil Unions Bill, Gilmore tells conference

Issued : Friday 20 June, 2008

The Leader of the Labour Party, Eamon Gilmore TD, has said that Labour intends to re-table in the Dail before the summer recess the Party's Civil Unions Bill which had been twice voted down by Fianna Fail led government. Deputy Gilmore was speaking to a conference of young gay rights activists organised by Labour Youth and the International Union of Socialist Youth in Dublin. (Friday)

We are taking this step because of the failure of the government to honour its promises to reduce similar legislation of its own. The Civil Unions Bill, which is designed to give full legal recognition to same sex couples was introduced by my colleague, Brendan Howlin, in the Dail in February 2007, but voted down by the Fianna Fail/PD government. In October of last year Labour moved a motion seeking to have the Bill restored to the Order Paper. On this occasion is was voted down by the Fianna Fail/Green/PD government.

When that motion was debated last October there were very specific promises from both Fianna Fail and Green Ministers that a government Bill would be speedily introduced and that Head of a Bill would be published by March of this year. That deadline has come and go and there is still no sign of the government Bill.

Deputy Brendan Howlin will now re-table that Bill before the end of this session unless we get some evidence that the government is going to speedily introduce and enact legislation to guarantee full and equal rights for same sex couples, we ensure that the Bill is taken again.

Addressing the conference, Deputy Gilmore said:
I would like to extend a warm welcome to all of you here tonight. I know you have travelled from all over the world to be in Dublin this weekend, which is a testament to your commitment to the cause of equality.

You are in good company. Equality is the principle that has always inspired and driven the Irish Labour Party. We proudly trace our origins, not just to famous figures in the Labour movment, such as James Connolly and Jim Larkin, but before them to the great thinkers of the enlightenment, and to the inspiring call for liberty, equality and fraternity.

The Labour Party has a proud history of campaigning for these ideals. We were at the vanguard of the battle to liberalise Ireland's laws. It was Labour which introduced equal pay for men and women in Ireland. Labour which made it illegal to discriminate on the grounds of gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.

Labour had the courage to stand up for individual freedoms, and to take the State out of citizens' bedrooms. It was Labour which legalised divorce in 1997. And it was Labour which made it legal to buy a packet of condoms, which were banned in Ireland for years.

Looking around us today, it is hard to imagine that the rights and freedoms Labour fought so hard for, and which we all now take for granted, were resisted every step of the way. The divorce referendum, only 13 years ago, was passed by a mere 9,000 votes out of the 1.6 million cast.

Two lessons can be drawn from these, often bruising, struggles. The first is that if we are committed to the equality and freedom of our neighbour, we will succeed. The second is that it won't be easy.

This is as true for same-sex marriage as it was for those other milestones on the journey towards a fair and equal society.

That there is some considerable resistance to giving legal rights to same-sex partners is clear. The Labour Party introduced its own Civil Unions Bill to parliament twice over the past 18 months, and twice it has been voted down.

The Government has promised to introduce its own legislation on civil unions, but so far it has confined itself to excuses and delaying tactics. One thing is becoming clearer: they have no intention of introducing equal rights for same-sex couples to the extent that they are guaranteed in Labour's proposed legislation.
Our Bill offers same sex couples the greatest measure of equality possible under our constitution. It affords same sex couples access to a status relationship which is similar to marriage in every practical way - including the right to adopt a child. It will provide thousands of our fellow citizens with a vital legal protection, and bring to an end countless forms of discrimination that they encounter in their daily lives.
We thought long and hard about how we would fight for equal rights for gay couples. We debated the merits of civil partnership and same-sex marriage, a debate about means and ends that is replayed wherever those fighting for equality are to be found.
The path we have chosen is that of legislation, which gives gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage, and which could be implemented tomorrow if the poltitical will exists. It is our job - as politicans, activists, friends and citizens - to expand that political will, and to campaign for our cause.
Is our solution, as manifested in our Bill, a perfect one? Are we guilty of offering what Martin Luther King called the 'tranquilising drug of gradualism'. To the extent that it stops short of changing the definition of marriage in the Irish constitution, a move which would in all likihood require a referendum, some would argue that we have chosen the wrong approach. In the end, however, we were motivated by two considerations. The first is that passing our bill would give immediate relief to gay and lesbian couples who are dealing with legal discrimination in their everyday lives today. The second is our view that passing our bill will lay the foundation to enable us to win the argument if or when there is a referendum on the issue.
I firmly believe that the vast majority of Irish people have a live-and-let-live approach to their fellow citizens. I do not believe that they are interested in denying same-sex couples the right to take care of a sick partner, inherit the family home or, indeed, to commit to each other for better or worse.

The Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign, however, demonstrated that there are still deeply reactionary groups in Irish society, albeit on the outer fringes, who will lie and distort to preserve the status quo, and who would no doubt be active again in a referendum campaign on marriage equality in Ireland.

In the end this is a tactical issue. Let me be clear: our goal is full equality for gay citizens. It is a goal which is shared by our friends and allies, who have stood with us when we have fought for equality in the past.
Labour's living legacy is the modernisation of Ireland, and the liberalisation of its laws. We need to have faith in our own ability to effect change.
After all, an equal right to marry is not a gay issue - it's a citizenship issue. Equal citizenship is the most fundamental organising principle of our society, and of any functioning democracy.
The Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has written that every ethical system put forward for the organisation of society, contains within it a notion of equality. It could not be otherwise. To deny equality, is to look another in the eye, and proclaim them to be a lesser person. It is to distinguish between the quality of one person's citizenship over another.
Irish citizenship does not ask what religion you are, what your gender is, or who you pray to. It should not ask who you want to marry. It's as simple as that.
Equal rights for gay citizens is not a radical agenda. It is just the logical conclusion of believing that, in a republic, all citizens should be treated equally.
An example of how insidious prejudice can be is homophobic bullying in our schools. A survey in 2006 found that almost 80 per cent of teachers had witnessed homophobic bullying in their schools, and that almost a third had witnessed such abuse over ten times.
The pervasiveness of homophobic bullying among young people tells us how far we have yet to travel before to abuse someone for being gay is simply taboo. But it will happen. Change and progress is sometimes slow, but must have the courage to persist.
Look across the Atlantic. On the 28th of August, Barack Obama will be named the Democratic nominee for the American presidency. That historic moment will take place 45 years to the day after Martin Luther King's famous speech on the steps of the Lincoln memorial, in which he reminded his fellow citizens that "we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal".
Change happens because of us, not in spite of us. Barack Obama's candidacy for the most powerful job in the world is the manifestation of Martin Luther King's dream, but also evidence that many millions of people share it.
We can effect change through legislation, as Labour has done in the past. Legislating for same-sex partnerships is simply guaranteeing the equal treatment of our citizens, regardless of who they choose to spend their lives with.
This is important, but it is not an end in itself. Equal treatment for gay couples is just one milestone in our endeavour to make those universal principles which unite us - liberty, equality, fraternity - universal in practice.
You are part of that global movement. Let its successes be a source of pride, and of strength. I wish you well in your endeavours here this evening, and in your future campaigns.