Good to see Ireland making a choice for rights over dogma, but I am struggling to justify whether rights should be subject to the whims of the electorate in any country.
Ireland is constitutionally based.
Any change to their constitution must come from a referendum.
They have had same sex civil ceremonies since 2009, but the were not protected in law with the same rights as marriage as the definition of marriage was man and woman, this referendum sought to change that, and has done so.
If anything major changes in Ireland, it is by the will of the people.
Not disputing the reason why, just rejecting the idea that equal rights and equal treatment should be subject to a vote. It is a recipe for poor treatment of minority interests.
People put up wallpaper, clean the bath and walk the dog too. Sex may be a part of life, but it doesn't make great TV. Seriously, when was the last time a TV sex scene enhanced your enjoyment of a good horror/sci-fi/fantasy/whatever.
As opposed to thinking, "Oh here comes the obligatory sex scene. I'll just nod off while these two actors touch each other extremely awkwardly."
And no, I'm not a prude. No idea where you get that from. Hah.
Words and language do evolve, it's true. But what you can not change are the origins and base meaning of a word.
I fail to see how having its own unique word is inferior? If anything it gains greater standing. It has its own name. It becomes something in its own right, not just a tag on or an amendment.
Well then no doubt you will campaign for catholic to be allowed to be Prime Minister of the UK then, something they have never voted upon, and seems to oppress the largest minority religion in the UK for several hundred years now.
I look forward to your campaign.
Of course you fail to see because you haven't been on the other side.
People for hundreds of years, if not more, have been told they are subhuman and second class. Having a different word isn't equal, you can't have it but you can have something similar doesn't cut it.
It wasn't so long ago marriage meant one man and one woman of the same race, interracial marriage was illegal and it was changed to fit the times. I'm not sure why there is such an uproar about wanting to redefine it again to allow same sex.
Please stop comparing marriage to a ******* shepherds pie.
The word marriage has no racial origins. The origins are based on gender. I've already explained the results of this.
To my knowledge interracial marriage has never been disallowed in the UK?
Equality is not about words. It's about rights. Homosexual - Heterosexual, different words but equal in all ways.
He's a furry if I recall. So whilst same sex couples shouldn't be seen, presumably if you want to hump a thorpe park mascot on screen that gets the thumbs up.![]()
See...the issue I have with same sex marriages is that by definition they are not marriages. They're something different. If you have to change the very definition of a word, then it is no longer that word.
I have no issues with same sex couples having the same legal standing...just call it something different. Like a homiage!
I also really hate the term gay marriage. If we're going to call it marriage, bloody leave it at that. It doesn't need gay or same sex in front of it! It's simply a marriage ( homiage).
Well you'd be wrong there. As I stated earlier, I believe everyone should have the same rights.
However I think it should be named differently. That way nobody gets offended. Same sex couples get equality. Religious individuals don't have problems with people of the same sex being joined in marriage. Simples.
The word stands for something extremely important to many people. Therefore it is an extremely important word.
Interracial marriage was illegal in the US up until the late 60's then marriage was redefined to allow it. The only reason marriage is defined as one man and one woman is because there were two genders and the only way humans could procreate. Species evolve and change and it turns out that gender isn't so binary but comes in all shades of grey.
Words, laws and society evolve over time and are changed to fit the times they exist in. Gay used to mean happy now it is used to describe the sexual preference of someone. Marriage used to be one man and one woman, why can't it be changed to include same sex?
Homosexuality was an accepted part of life until Christianity got hold and messed the world up, the Dark Ages, the Crusades, etc..
Equality is not JUST about words but you can't have equality when you say one group of people can have something and then say another can't but they can have something that is very similar.
Why are you talking about the US?
Since the get go I explained how the word originates from middle English. Which came from...England. As we know American English is very different. As is their insane culture.
The word marriage came about at a time when Christianity was the ruling influence in many peoples lives. You can't change that fact though. Thus in a true sense the would marriage applies to the joining of a man and woman. Your point about race is utterly irrelevant.
So you want to distinguish marriage between same sex partners by calling it homiage? But you don't want to distinguish it as gay marriage because it doesn't need the word gay? Or do you just want to coin a new word - homiage© (Dis86 - 2015)?
I'd agree with you that it shouldn't need the word gay as a prefix, if we're using the word to describe the joining of two people who are in love then their gender should be utterly irrelevant.
Is there not a question in there about whether a persons (or group of peoples) offence should require a new word or description to be invented for something which would be described perfectly well by an existing word which notwithstanding linguistic pedantry (and I love a bit of linguistic pedantry at times) already encapsulates the meaning fine? I would imagine that in common conception marriage is the joining of two people in matrimony - usually it'll be a man and a woman but it's hardly a huge mental leap for it to be used for any two people able to consent regardless of race, gender or any other irrelevant factors.
If you're saying it's an extremely important word because of its importance to many people then why choose to limit its usage based on what a certain group of people say? Can it not be equally as important for same-sex couples to get the legitimacy of their unions recognised in law and in common parlance by using the same word. Marriage is not a religious concept in origin so why should religion get to define what it means today?
Anyway, good for Ireland and for the people who voted for this.
Getting pretty sick of this, it's been the top story all day on BBC, ITV and Channel 4 news. Why? A foreign country is having a referendum on possibly changing their law - whoopee doo. The subject of gay marriage is an interesting one but it's just not relevant to me unless we're talking about changing the law in this country. I guess at the moment I'm moderately in favour of gay marriage, so this isn't about sour grapes from a homophobe.
Two other stories that are more relevant to me that could have been the top story - the Bank of England's plan for a Brexit, accidentally sent to the Guardian lol. Or what about questions for Alistair Carmichael, who leaked the Nicola Sturgeon likes David Cameron paper.
Anyways,![]()
Let's play 'spot the UKIP voter.'
OH LOOK, THERE HE IS!
![]()
Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said the Church in Ireland needed to reconnect with young people.