John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to share time with Deputy Conway. I am delighted to speak here today. I do not have a lot prepared. I received a call that I was due to speak; I thought I was due to speak later today. A number of things come to mind.

The teenagers who beat Declan Flynn to death because they thought he was gay were given suspended sentences 32 years ago yesterday. That was the type of society in which we lived until recently. People are not being beaten to death for being gay today, but let us not forget that there are people who are stigmatised and cannot be themselves today because they are gay or feel they are treated differently.

In 1974, a gay person was seen as having a mental disorder and had to visit a doctor to check if he or she was okay. Thankfully, we no longer have to do things like that. We have come a long way in the intervening 40 years. When the gay switchboard was set up 41 years ago, it could not have its number in the telephone directory because the term "gay" was not allowed to be printed in the posts and telegraph directory, as it might have been back then. Young people today might have forgotten or do not know about such things, but Ireland has moved on in the past 40 years. In the past 20 years it has accelerated very quickly towards legislation to protect people and minorities.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1993. Young people growing up today probably never realised that one could go to prison if one was gay. Those days are gone. In May, we will be asked whether we believe that every citizen in this country is equal. We all know what love feels like. We fall in and out of love many times in our lives and most of us eventually find the one. I hope Deputy McEntee has found the one for her and that he asks her the question some day. We cannot touch or see love, but we can all feel it and it feels fantastic. It warms one's belly and makes one laugh, cry and do crazy things for the person with whom one falls in love. That is love, and it is not confined to any gender or sexuality. It transcends all people who live in every country and it is the same love whether one is gay or straight.

Until now we have decided to say that love is not the same for gay and straight people and the love for people who are heterosexual is different from that of people who are gay or lesbian. All of us in the Chamber know that is different. We are here today because we believe that the people of Ireland, regardless of their sexuality, are equal and should be treated the same. I thank my colleagues who have spoken today and the people who have made it possible in recent times for the people of Ireland to have a referendum in May and share the view of society, namely, that the love between two loving adults, regardless of their sexuality, is the same and people should have the right to marry regardless of their sexual orientation.

Irish people are fair minded and if the people who believe in this, who are in the majority, come out in May, they will vote "Yes". People are being asked to vote on whether they want to make a difference in Irish society, make it better and ensure everybody is treated equally, or whether they want a society that treats people differently because of their sexuality.

Irish people are not stupid and it is a no-brainer for most people. I do not live in a bubble, despite what people may think. Many people favour this but they need to come out in May and endorse their point of view and the strong feeling they have for equality in the ballot box. It will be no good if most of the people in my area or other parts of the country believe this is good and we should have equality for people in accessing civil marriage but sit in their houses. They must come out and make it happen.

As others have said, the sky will not fall in with this referendum. Any marriage that exists today will still be same as it was yesterday. We will allow a sector of society that is currently being treated unequally to be treated equally. These people feel love when they get butterflies in their stomach and it will be treated as equal to the love felt by other citizens in this society. I welcome this Bill and I believe the Irish people will endorse this referendum. We must not lose faith in the issue and we should ensure that we ask everybody we know to participate. That includes everybody in our phone books, on our Facebook pages and our Twitter accounts. We must ask people to come out and vote because we need them to do so.

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