Anne Ferris (Wicklow, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is rare that this House has the opportunity to pass a piece of joyful legislation, and this is one of those rare times. As a member of the Labour Party, I am proud to have been part of the process that led to the marriage equality referendum that was put to the people of Ireland. I would like to put on the record the fact that I am very proud of my colleague, Deputy Eamonn Gilmore, because we would not be debating this Bill today if he had not made it one of his priorities. I am proud of people such as Mrs. Josie Lyons, the mother of my Labour Party colleague, Deputy John Lyons, a woman who sacrificed her personal privacy in order to advocate publicly for marriage equality. He spoke about his Ma earlier with tears in his eyes, and I am sure he is very proud of her. I am proud of colleagues such as Deputy Ruairí Quinn, who allocated his assistant, the wonderful Niamh Hayes, to a practically full-time role on the campaign for its duration. I am proud of my fellow Labour Party members in Wicklow - I refer in particular to Ian McGahon and Sam Blanckensee - who campaigned tirelessly, day and night, in a successful effort to clearly explain the purpose of the referendum to those voters who were initially less sure of how to cast their votes. I am very proud of the constituency of Wicklow and of east Carlow for having one of the country’s biggest turnouts and one of the highest "Yes" votes nationally.

On the other side of the coin, we are lucky to live in a democracy, and that means that respect and regard is also due to the minority of voters who cast a "No" vote in the referendum. I hope that the carefully worded Bill before us today removes some of the uncertainty that "No" voters may have felt when listening to what were generally respectful but sometimes complex arguments in the lead-up to the referendum. It is clear from the Bill that church weddings, for example, will be unaffected by the change in law. The Bill alters only the law affecting civil, not church, unions. The Catholic Church has, since the referendum, probably cleared up a lot of unnecessary confusion by confirming that church premises will in fact continue to allow the signing of the civil register and that the threatened added complications will not in fact be imposed on wedding parties in church ceremonies. I will not speculate how much higher the "Yes" vote might have been if that particular confusion had not been introduced into the campaign.

It is not such a long time ago that being homosexual was illegal. It was only in 1993, helped by Labour Party pressure at the time, that homosexuality was finally decriminalised in Ireland, just short of 100 years after the notorious conviction of the Irish literary genius Oscar Wilde under similarly archaic laws. Wilde was sentenced to two years' imprisonment with hard labour, a term that left him a broken man and contributed to his early death at the age of just 46. How much richer could our literary heritage in Ireland have been had Wilde been allowed to live a long and happy life?

Unfortunately, even with all of the progress in LGBT rights in more recent times, there are still lessons that have to be learned and relearned by society. This Government has introduced progressive legislation for the transgender community, enthusiastically supported by the Labour Party. Usually, with legislation affecting social progress, the actual level of progress is slow and the media generally tend to be ahead of Governments of the day in terms of attitude to, and acceptance of, the need for change. However, with regard to respecting transgender people within our society, this Government has shown itself to be far ahead of sections of our media. I refer in particular to the reaction from some newspaper journalists to the recent decision by RTE journalist Jonathan Rachel Clynch to no longer conceal what is natural - that is, a deeply personal identification towards gender fluidity. Clynch is a highly intelligent and respected professional, known for thorough analysis and accurate journalistic reporting, and is a person to be respected who has views that can be believed.

New legislation brought in by this Government recognises and legalises the need felt by some individuals to transition from the gender they were identified with at birth. This is not an Oscar Wilde situation. Rather, the law is supporting Jonathan Rachel. Our State broadcaster, RTE, the employer of this journalist, has shown a mature and respectful approach to the decision of its employee. However, a small number of other journalists have taken a position on gender fluidity that in many respects is not that different from the very tragic reporting of the Oscar Wilde case in the 1890s. There should be no column space in the newspapers of today for disrespectful reporting of people because of their sexuality, gender, race or colour. We really need to learn from the past and move on.

Oscar Wilde and his parents were frequent visitors to my home town of Bray in County Wicklow. It is comforting to think that if he returned today, not only would Oscar Wilde be able to live openly as a homosexual man, but he might even choose to get married in one of our great seaside venues. Having celebrated my own wedding just a year ago on the Bray seafront - Deputy McNamara celebrated his wedding a few weeks ago - I can confirm that there is no better place than Bray, County Wicklow, or east Carlow in which to have a wedding celebration. We are looking forward to a big increase in happy nuptials in our constituency, and if anyone wants to invite me to a wedding I am always delighted to get one of those gilt-edged invitations.

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