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Gay rights yes; marriage rights no

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4 — villageJune – July 2013leadervIllaGe is driven by an egalitarian approach to rights. It is not impressed with assertions of rights to property by those with lots of it for example, or noisy campaigns against property taxes, at least fair ones, or against capital acquisitions tax, septic tank charges and the likes. It treats very seriously the right to life, as the most fundamental mani-festation of the equality of humans; it promotes equality of education and equality of health treatment. It believes in equality of quality of life. and Villageconsiders that future generations have an equal right to the fruits of the earth giving rise to an obligation to care for the environment, sustain-ably. equality is Village’sthing.against this background it takes gay rights very seriously, but is unim-pressed with the case for gay marriage.The case for gay rights, pioneered in this country by david Norris through the courts and the european on Convention on Human rights, is unanswerable. everyone has the option – philosophically – to believe the equality of gays or to deny it. But the fact is that if people choose – politi-cally – to be ofended by what others get up to where no nuisance is caused to third parties, there would be no end to the asymmetrical busibodinesses that would undermine public and individual welfare. For this reason society is best served by freedom for consenting adults to exercise whatever sexual preferences best fulfl them. Villagefeels no more need to indulge the preferences of bigots that others should deny their sexuality than it feels the need to indulge the preferences of bigots that seek to count people as inferior by virtue of their race, sex, able-bodiedness or any other accident of birth. Indulgence of such bigotry is a charter for Nazis and eugenicists.Marriage, on the other hand is very diferent. Being married or unmar-ried is not an accident of birth. Being moved by recent celebrations in France and an underlying visceral preference for the views of the lGBT movement rather than those of the Iona Institute, driven by a belief that politics should be about promoting the needs of those whose welfare is poorest or whose equal rights have been most invidiously fouted, is simply not enough to aford marriage a status it does not deserve. Marriage should be an emo-tional and social privilege not a legal right, though of course how married people are in the privacy of their own homes is their own business and not something the state should interfere in (!).a right is something that everyone can avail of. Marriage is something that only people who are linked through love can avail of. apart from the fact that it defnes, patriarchically and Thomistically, a relationship based on a woman’s utility as a child-bearer, Marriage discriminates in favour of the fortunate (those lucky enough to be linked through love), including through tax advantages. egalitarians would favour institutions that promote the less fortunate, not institutions designed to enshrine iniquity. a radical and egal-itarian agenda is to undermine state support – including fnancial support – for, Marriage, not to extend the numbers who can beneft from the unfair privilege. Children are a separate issue and the state should support them generously and directly, not through advantaging the married.The best interests of the children should be the overwhelming, overarch-ing guide to parenting and adoption. There is no evidence that gay couples, married or unmarried, provide inferior parenting. or that well-supported parenting by good single parents cannot serve the best interests of the chil-dren. Therefore gays should have equal rights to adopt, but so too should well-adjusted loving single people. Gay rights yes; marriage rights nostate-sanctioned Marriage is a conservative, iniquitous institution – for anyoneCorrections and clarifcationsThe profle of Catherine day in the april-May edition should have acknowledged the work of eNds in establishing that she was blocking some environmental measures.The interview with Bunker roy should have acknowledged that sam McManus and Marcelo Biglia travelled to India with support from the simon Cumbers Media Fund.The leader of North Korea is Kim Jong-un, not his predecessor, Kim Jong-il, as stated by villager.The article on sensible Money was wrong.

5Village is ireland’s political magazineVillage is published on the frst Friday in June 2013 and the frst Friday of every second month after that (6 editions in 2013). The cover price is €3.95 in the Republic and £3.30 in Northern Ireland. A subscription for ten editions costs €39.50 in the Republic and £33 in Northern Ireland. Village pays for postage.A Village subscription is an ideal gift.Village is published by Ormond Quay Publishing, 6 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7. Email: sales@villagemagazine.ie; Tel: 01-8735824RECIPIENT First name ……………………………………..Surname ………………………………………………………Address ………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………..Tel ………………………………………………………………Email …………………………………………………………..⁄ I enclose a cheque for € ………(Make cheque payable to Ormond Quay Publishing)Please send to: Ormond Quay Publishing, 6 Ormond Quay Upper, Dublin 7We also accept bank transfers.Tel: +353-1-8735824; sales@villagemagazine.ieIreland’s political magazine www.villagemagazine.ie����� ������ His 1971 trip to Ireland ���� ����� Interviewed Nov – Dec 2012 Issue 20������ Restaurant reviewers ��������������Central Bank lets down Sugarman������� Enda’s useless optimismCRH – 40 YEARS OF SCANDAL • Judge’s CRH shareholding• The cement billionaires• Our biggest company: a history PHIL HOGAN – BIG MAN DIGS • A profile of our controversial Environment Minister • U-turn on Poolbeg incinerator€3.95 // £3.30Ireland’s political magazinewww.villagemagazine.ieBleeding the richBleeding the richEnsure that those who can best afford to pay for this crisis actually do so – Tom McDonnell, TASCThey already do – Constantin Gurdgiev, TCDEnsure that those who can best afford to pay for this crisis actually do so – Tom McDonnell, TASCThey already do – Constantin Gurdgiev, TCD���������Villagethrows shapes ������Anonymity: it’s OK Feb – Mar 2013 Issue 21����Lockout still relevant ����� �����Kevin O’Sullivan disappoints ����������� RTÉ TV political satireENVIRONMENT SPECIAL • Donegal planning: an oxymoron• Fracking in the West• Peter Sweetman interviewedOUR STRESSED PLANET• Mary Robinson interviewed• John Gibbons: we’re done for• Ian Lumley on our finite world219771649574818€3.95 // £3.30Doom** cometh climate change

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