Averil Power (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to respond to Senator Rónán Mullen who took issue with me stating that what he was arguing for was for a service provider to be able to deny somebody a service because of their sexual orientation, yet he was clearly arguing that two married couples presenting in a cake shop or wherever, one a heterosexual married couple the other a same sex couple, one can be denied a service. The only distinction between those two loving couples, who have just entered into the institution of marriage and profess their love, support and commitment to each other, is their sexual orientation. One can dress that up as one wishes and use the softest possible language but that is the only difference. That is why what is being proposed here is a licence to discriminate. I would fight for the rights of all Members, even those who disagree most profoundly with me, to their freedom of speech and the right to argue their views but, as has been pointed out, they do not have a right to impose their views and a particular religious position on everybody else and to deny, as they are seeking to do, loving and committed gay couples and lesbian couples the right to marry because of their religious view. This Bill is on civil marriage and it is clear about that. It will not force the churches to marry, it is about giving equal rights to all our citizens so there is a balance in all of these things. One person's freedom of speech should not and cannot in a Republic be used to fundamentally strip away the most basic human right, the right to marry, from fellow citizens on an issue that is not going to affect anybody else. It would finally give beautiful people such as Senator Katherine Zappone and her partner who fought for such a long time for a right the rest of us take for granted, a right that many people do not take as seriously as gay and lesbian couples who have fought for years to marry because they care about marriage and value it, not because they want to undermine anybody else's marriage as they know that marriage is beautiful, not just for couples but for society. All they are asking is that we have the generosity of spirit and of love, as fellow citizens, to give them that opportunity.