Tag Archives: gay marriage

ELEMENTS within a Government that was damaged by defections after the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill may not have much appetite for a referendum on gay marriage, but it is on the horizon and has been labelled by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore as “civil rights issue of our generation”. Taoiseach Enda Kenny favours same sex marriage too, but when he spoke to The Champion on New Year’s Eve, Clare Fine Gael TD Pat Breen said he’d like some time to pass before the country’s next referendum. “I think that people are a little bit tired of referendums at this stage. Maybe a year without a referendum might be useful to focus on jobs and the action plan that is coming into place in 2014. Obviously, this will be another contentious issue for some people and we had the Protection of Life Bill last year. Sometimes these things can take your mind off the issues that we have to deal with …

A KILRUSH man, who is now director of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN), said he had no choice but to leave West Clare as a young man. Brian Sheehan was reflecting on how public attitudes and opinions have changed so much since the early 1980s, as he spoke to The Clare Champion following the announcement that a referendum on gay and lesbian marriage will be held in 2015. “I knew I had to leave Kilrush as soon as I possibly could. I knew I was gay from a very young age and I knew I had to get out. Dublin was where I eventually got to,” Mr Sheehan said on Wednesday. “I had thought I would have to go abroad but decriminalisation came and circumstances changed. I realised I wouldn’t be a criminal if I stayed here any longer. At the time, I always felt that it would be absolutely impossible to be myself in Kilrush. I knew …