How will you vote in the Marriage Equality referendum? Mod Note Post 1

dashcamdanny wrote: »

Honestly , I don't have any friends who are gay. Not that I object to them.

I just don't know any in my group of mates.

Why should I care. And I say that as a proper question.

You should care because a section of our society is being denied equal rights. It shouldn't matter that you're not a member of that section of society or that you don't know anyone who is, you can undo that and all it will take you is the time to go down to your polling station and tick a box.

aloyisious wrote: »

Perhaps you should canvas your family members to see if they know any LGBT people amongst the several dozen people most of them would know. It might surprise you to find that you actually do know several LGBT folk. There's also the reckoning that approx 8.5 to 10 % of the general population are LGBT.

That should make for some interesting conversations.

why are people so intent on pushing people into a yes or no vote. Ireland doesnt have a law that forces its citizens to vote. So deciding not to vote is a legitimite option.



Also, today a business owner i know was asked ny a customer how he'd vote. When he answered that he was sick of hearing about the referendum and people asking how he was voting and wont be voting at all, the customer lost the plot, told him there were a lot of gay and lesbian people living in the town and he had just lost all their business.... :rolleyes:

dashcamdanny wrote: »

That is a massive IF .

I would like to see credible facts on how many people in the country are gay.

It seem's there are enough of us for the Iona Institute and several other groups set up specifically to oppose a YES vote and (not peculiarly) enough of us to set up groups specifically to get the YES vote out. Perhaps you could ask the institute how many of us there are as they seem good on facts and figures .

Bridge93 wrote: »

If the population of Ireland is about 4.6 million then a safe guess might be somewhere between 350,000 and 450,000?

That would be 10%. I think its more around the 2-3% mark.

aloyisious wrote: »

It seem's there are enough of us for the Iona Institute and several other groups set up specifically to oppose a YES vote and (not peculiarly) enough of us to set up groups specifically to get the YES vote out. Perhaps you could ask the institute how many of us there are as they seem good on facts and figures .

The referendum is just another battle in the 'culture wars'. The progressive movement has won the war in America and will win it here too. Once this referendum has been put to bed all those restless voices behind Yes movement will move on to abortion rights and maybe less emotive campaigns like cannabis decriminalization.

If there is a no vote, it will be the first time in my life I will say I'm ashamed to by Irish

There is no logical reasoning for voting no, is religion a logical reason? I would rather go to hell where they do not discrimate than go to heaven where my friends aren't allowed in because of their sexual preference.

Is children with gay parents more likley to be raised wrong? When was the last time you turned on a tv? Bad people do bad things, you can be straight or gay. So what makes good parents? You have to be straight?

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

why are people so intent on pushing people into a yes or no vote. Ireland doesnt have a law that forces its citizens to vote. So deciding not to vote is a legitimite option.

Is it not pretty obvious why? It affects some people's futures in a big way. Put yourself in their shoes: imagine being denied the option to marry the person you love and the entitlement to the same legal and financial benefits as married couples.

GT_TDI_150 wrote: »

why are people so intent on pushing people into a yes or no vote.

Because both sides would like you to vote in accordance with what they want.

So if you come onto this thread, which has plenty of posters who want the referendum to pass, then people are going to try an convince you to vote, and vote Yes.

It hardly comes as a surprise to you does it? That people who care about the referendum will try and persuade those who don't to vote.

The hypocrisy of Mothers&FathersMatter saying the government is misleading the public about this referendum and children, when the central plank of their argument about it is centered on the false pretense that gay married couples would be unique in requiring surrogacy to vindicate their 'right to procreation'.

There are already and will always be married couples in that category. The legal cases they are fear mongering about have already been happening. Gay couples would not be a substantial addition to the cohort in that camp. The courts have already deferred the matter to legislation.

These posters and arguments about surrogacy are akin to asking us to withdraw marriage from infertile couples of all stripes.

haveringchick wrote: »

Hi
No I don't have any evidence. It only wad impunity bit of a bit of a discussion we were having.
I don't think participation in this thread is subject to providing evidence to bS.C.k up theories, I don't even think it adds to the debate. If posters add links that don't support the position of the majority then yhe link is shot down on some premise or other
In particular any articles written by people raised by SS couples that don't reflect favorably on the authors experience are scoffed at and dismissed.
The condescending patronizing tone in your post just furthers the perception that some yes voters simply can't or won't deal with any kind of resistance or criticism. It's a bit princessy that isn't it?

What are uou going to do if the referendum doesn't carry?

In fairness, why are you making claims if you can't back them up? I understand that this is what the majority of the No side are doing. You claimed that the Yes side want religion banned. It wasn't just osarusan who asked you to back it up. Now you're saying you can't, and shouldn't have to. That's like me saying that the No side want to murder all homosexuals. I know that's not true, you know that's not true, but by your logic, I shouldn't have to back up that claim. Evidence for claims adds a lot to a discussion.

There has been one post made about a woman who was raised by a SS couple. The post ignored the second article that was wrote along side it, and also ignored the fact that the first article was giving out mostly about divorce than SS couples.