Rights for Gays Under New Bill

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Rights for Gays Under New Bill

April 2, 2008

By Paddy Clancy

GAY couples are to have many of the same benefits of married partners under the terms of new legislation being prepared by the government.

The move coincides with the findings of a poll that there is increased public support for gay marriage in Ireland.

However, the proposed new laws on civil partnerships stop short of giving same-sex partners total equality with heterosexual married couples. Gays will not have the right to be considered as joint adoptive parents.

A new Civil Partnership Bill is expected to be considered by the Cabinet within the next week.

It provides for gay and lesbian partners to avail of marriage-like benefits in a range of areas such as property, social welfare, succession, maintenance, pensions and tax.

A growing slice of the population -– 58% compared with 51% two years ago — favors the right of gay couples to wed in a registry office. The number of people who said such couples should only be allowed form civil partnerships was down from 33% to 26%.

Pro-gay lobbyist Grainne Healy said the poll is evidence of a consistent emerging demand among Irish people for full equality for gays and lesbians.

Healy, co-chairperson of Marriage Equality which is working for civil marriage for same-sex couples, said, “We have been saying that there is a demand for marriage equality for gay and lesbian people. This national poll, carried out by an independent research company, is data-based proof of our own anecdotal evidence.”

Healy added, “Significantly it underlines a consistent and positive trend over two years. When we compare these results with previous research and polls carried out since February 2006 we see that attitudes have stayed consistent, that they are positive and growing in support.”

Meanwhile, in the proposed new legislation, the dissolution of civil partnerships will also mirror marriage in that applications to dissolve such unions may only be made once both parties have been living apart for four out of the previous five years, just as with traditional divorce applications.

While the legislation is unlikely to go far enough to meet demands of same-sex lobby groups who want full marriage and equality before the law for gay and lesbian couples, there are behind-the-scenes talks aimed at improving the rights of gay couples who already parent children, but who have no mechanism to establish a joint legal connection with their child.

There will be major changes for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples living together and who choose not to formalize their relationships, but who have been cohabiting for at least three years.

There will be a new “safety net” redress scheme through which they may apply to court for financial relief at the end of a relationship or death, but only if they can show they were economically dependent. The court will be able to make a number of orders in areas such as maintenance, division of pensions and property.

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