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First ever openly gay members elected to Irish Parliament

Gay marriage an issue for new government to face

By
MOLLY MULDOON,
IrishCentral.com Staff Writer
Published Thursday, March 3, 2011, 7:53 AM
Updated Thursday, March 3, 2011, 7:53 AM

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John Lyons TD - one of the newly elected, openly gay Irish TDs in Government
John Lyons TD - one of the newly elected, openly gay Irish TDs in Government


Next week Dominic Hannigan and John Lyons will enter the newly elected Irish government as the first openly gay politicians elected as members of Parliament in Ireland.

Both men are Labor Party candidates. They won their seats in Meath East (Hannigan) and Dublin North West (Lyons).

Hannigan, despite representing a very rural constituency, said his sexuality never came up in the election and people were not worried about it.

Paul McConnell, co-chair of the Labor LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) group said, "History was also made in the election of not one but two openly gay (members) . . . The election of both Dominic Hannigan and John Lyons as (members) for the Labor Party is a step forward for equality in Ireland and we look forward to their contributions in the Dail (Parliament).”

In the past Ireland had openly gay senators and later this year the country could have its first gay president, Senator David Norris, who is a leading candidate to replace outgoing President Mary McAleese.

A push for gay marriage rights is set to begin when the new government takes over .The National Lesbian & Gay Federation (NLGF) has urged the two parties likely to be in government to commit to legislate for civil marriage for same-sex-couples. 

NLGF chair Ailbhe Smyth said, “Fine Gael and the Labor Party have a duty to legislate for equal civil marriage rights for lesbian and gay people. Discriminating against lesbian and gay people in this regard is not acceptable”.
 
Irish public support for equal marriage rights for gays has grown over the last few years, from 51% in October 2006 to 67% in September 2010, according to an “Irish Times” poll.  The “Irish Independent” last month published a poll showing that two-thirds of Irish people believe that same sex couples should have the right to marry.
 
Nine countries now accord same-sex couples access to civil marriage (including, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands), as well as five U.S. states.

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31 Comments

15 - 31 | See all comments

jacersagain | Mar 09, 2011, 06:40 PM EST
Yes, pacifist...I see that they were indeed deleted. Perhaps Chief Niall O'DeNinehHostages... sorry.. Niall O'Dowdie... sorry again!... O'Dowd might explain? As an aside, you might note that ICentral is not a site for investigating journalists’... they are notbrave enough to do so and just plagiarise from other journalists on other sites, especially Irish newspapers’ journalists.

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pacifist | Mar 09, 2011, 07:56 AM EST
jacersagain, If you check you will see that comments that I submitted and were posted have now been deleted. They contained facts concerning the consequences for the health of men and women who engage in homosexual acts and a challenge to Irish Central staff writers to investigate them thoroughly. But Irish Central hasn't responded by saying they will do this, but have taken down my comments.

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pacifist | Mar 07, 2011, 11:36 AM EST
I've been commenting on another related article concerning an opinion poll in Ireland where the majority, apparently, are backing same-sex " marriage and I alleged my comments would not appear, but since they have I've apologized for my allegation and I hope it's been accepted as it is genuine. Therefore, as to the objectivity of Irish Central staff writers and whether they are objective enough to carry out a thoroughly researched investigation into the subject I will now take a wait and see attitude and I hope I am wrong in my scepticism.

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STUMPTOWN | Mar 06, 2011, 10:39 AM EST
If that the person the people want, so be it. Hope he and the others in government do a good honest job as the people elected them for and keep all religions out of government.

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jacersagain | Mar 05, 2011, 01:59 AM EST
@ Whitepark... Yes, there's a problem in IrishCentral's online posting system. They are not deliberately blocking genuine ppl's posts... I think it's just a glitch in their trying to stop spammers posts. Try again. Good luck w/it.

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jacersagain | Mar 05, 2011, 01:52 AM EST
And here's the 2nd post that didn't get through the ICentral ether. I hope all can see it now. (Re-post) >>> (...more) I’m not sorry for fighting for LGBT people who’ve been misled by others, to re-discover what is simply right and reject what is simply wrong. I borrow words from a recovered gay man, now married to a loving wife and who has had children by her, who wrote: “If the homosexual community chooses to practice homosexuality in privacy that is their free choice. But all of them should know for certain that the Christian Bible condemns all such practices and God has already made known through the Bible that He will judge them unfit for the kingdom of Heaven if they continue to practice and openly promote homosexual sex”. I would add and say to all of the LGBT community... “Please stop abusing each other... there is a better way. Find or re-discover Christ and His human way to real love”. Finally, may I say to LGBT people that this splurge from me is not just about what the Catholic & other Christian Churches teach, in going telling everyone...? We all know people fall down – sure haven’t some priests of the Catholic Church got AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases too?? The vast majority recover and you can too. Christ welcomes all who listen and change their lives for His better way. Even gay Irish politicians.

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jacersagain | Mar 05, 2011, 01:47 AM EST
For hyattsville and all --- 2nd attempt at the two missing posts..... (...more) Look up the following in the Bible: Gen 19:5-8, "and they called to Lot and said to him, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have relations with them.' But Lot went out to them at the doorway, and shut the door behind him, and said, ‘please, my brothers, do not act wickedly." - The Greek word in the New Testament for homosexuality is literally "a sodomite", so look to Jude 7 "Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example, in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire." Look to Lev 18:22-23 "You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination" and Lev 20:13 "If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; 1 Cor 6:9 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals"; Look to Tim 1:9-10 "realizing the fact that (civil) law is not made for a righteous man, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those... immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers"; look to Rom 1:26-27 "For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." >>> These are not my words but those of someone much more sensible about the correctness of “things” (more...)

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jacersagain | Mar 05, 2011, 01:45 AM EST
@hyattsville – no problem if you don’t understand my comments. See that post that I made at 7.25PM EST that ended with (More...)? Well, the gremlins in ICentral’s computer system didn’t allow my two (more) following posts to appear, which might have allowed some understanding of my 7.25PM comment for many. If I was a paranoid, I might have concluded that they didn’t appear because they were strongly in favour of people of the LGBT community getting out of being LGBT people – which suggests that ICentral’s computorial editors are set up so as to reject such encouragements. Don’t fret about it – love reigns in the two comments that were not posted... so I’ll give it another go...

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Whitepark | Mar 04, 2011, 11:03 PM EST
I must be missing something here, I post a comment and then it dissapears after a few minutes,What am I doing wrong,my comments are not out of line in any way.???

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Whitepark | Mar 04, 2011, 10:48 PM EST
When the Euro was introduced to Ireland it brought sudden progress for a while then the Tiger hiccupped and it died a sudden death, but like everything in life we cannot see the future, if only we could how rich we all could be.and by the way I dont live in the backwoods but Yahweh is a totally new word to me maybe its just as well.

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hyattsville | Mar 04, 2011, 09:35 PM EST
@jacersagain 1) I find your comments really hard reading and if I've missed something I apologize 2) I don't know that any of us know really what God's plan and design and intentions for us are. Most of us are just doing the best with the knowlege and equipment that we have. Golden rule is basic guide for me. He made us the way he made us (and only He knows why) but as long as we respect ourselves and those who we come in contact with then fine 3) The people that you condemn are rapists whatever their sexual proclivities. Rapists are gay and straight and don't follow any code of ethics.

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jacersagain | Mar 04, 2011, 07:25 PM EST
FAO DanOLoinshigh on 03 Mar, 06.45PM (and others) – I assume by yr comment that you are saying that people like me, Advocate and others are assuming judgement as Yahweh/God will? I can assure you that is not so at all. We don’t make the rules for life to be propagated, for the simple reason that we already know of, and are bound by our acceptance of and belief in Christianity, what God has decided as what the morals should be for His plan of His World. We (many of us after much heart-wrenching questioning as to “human rights” of people) accept them because we have no cause to reject them. It is spelled out in the Bible, that book which we believe to have been inspired by Yahweh/God through His Holy Spirit of Wisdom and written down by human hands for all to read forever. People who don’t believe in the words of the Bible should not waste their time reading any further but I would feel obliged to ask Christians of the LGBT community to do so, ok? Pls bear with me (More...)

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barneyjo | Mar 04, 2011, 06:42 PM EST
@Advocate - DAVID NORRIS FOR PRESIDENT!!!! and with the blessing of Yahweh, for Catholic Ireland will have elected him!!

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kateomprint | Mar 04, 2011, 05:46 PM EST
Didn't even know they were gay and don't care so long as they do a good job of running the Country. Live and let live is my motto. How come it is nearly always people who don't live in Ireland brand us as these chest beating God fearing people when a lot of us don't really care about other people's sexuality. Hopefully in the very near future we will have a gay President.

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hyattsville | Mar 04, 2011, 05:06 PM EST
@Advocate I do so hope that you're not too horribly shocked when you finally get to meet your Yahweh! Have a nice weekend. I'll say a wee prayer for your head at Mass on Sunday.

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