Ireland introduces Civil Partnership for gay couples

July 19, 2010 6:11 AM

The President of Ireland signed a Civil Partnership Bill for gay couples this morning. The bill had earlier passed through the Dail (lower house of parliament) without opposition, and the Seanad (upper house) after a marathon 23 hour debate, though with only four votes against. The new law provides gay couples with most of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage - tax, social welfare, inheritance. However not everyone is happy about it.[YouTube]
posted by illy (19 comments total)

This is great news, hopefully full marriage and adoption rights will come soon too. The omission of adoption rights is a pathetic concession to a decreasing minority which is smaller than the government thinks.
Now we just need to get our blasphemy and abortion laws sorted and we can finally call ourselves a 21st century European country.
posted by minifigs at 6:15 AM on July 19, 2010

If you get your blasphemy and abortion laws sorted you will be significantly ahead of the US.
posted by GenjiandProust at 6:17 AM on July 19, 2010 [4 favorites]

I was unaware the US had blasphemy laws.
posted by I_pity_the_fool at 6:26 AM on July 19, 2010

Soooo ..what's the rule about registering for retroactive Irish citizenship again? Is it Grandparent or Great-Grandparent?
posted by The Whelk at 6:37 AM on July 19, 2010

Do you know who'll "think of the children"?

The Irish Catholic Church will.

The irony is delicious.
posted by WalterMitty at 6:47 AM on July 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was unaware the US had blasphemy laws.

Not yet, but two out of three isn't bad.
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:27 AM on July 19, 2010

The Whelk:Soooo ..what's the rule about registering for retroactive Irish citizenship again? Is it Grandparent or Great-Grandparent?


I think you're confusing it with Israel. Ireland's right of return is the only one in the world that goes by the breathalyzer.
posted by dr_dank at 7:28 AM on July 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Yay Ireland!

Boo USA for being so insanely backwards that even the halfway measure, separate-but-equal, sort of law that Ireland just passed isn't even on the table here.
posted by sotonohito at 7:36 AM on July 19, 2010

we can finally call ourselves a 21st century European country.

Actually, 21st century Europe presents a pretty mixed bag of laws. Only Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway have gender neutral marriage laws. In many countries there is no recognition of same sex partnerships at all.
posted by three blind mice at 7:37 AM on July 19, 2010

The Whelk, it's grandparent. Several American friends of mine had an Irish grandfather, and they got EU passports through that, allowing them to work in Europe.
posted by foldedfish at 7:39 AM on July 19, 2010

How did this happen, are there no Mormons in Ireland?
posted by doctor_negative at 7:49 AM on July 19, 2010

"Not Everyone Is Happy About It" can go fuck a hat.

Hooray Ireland!
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 7:53 AM on July 19, 2010

I was unaware the US had blasphemy laws.

Well, nobody's perfect.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:57 AM on July 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

About the video: It's made by the people who did this lovely parody site commenting on shrimp. So consider that the video maker is reporting on protesters, not agreeing with them.
posted by Xoder at 8:23 AM on July 19, 2010

Funny you should mention Mormons in Ireland. An Irish fellow was talking to me recently about a Mormon he knew who went on his mission to Ireland. The Irish fellow laughed in the re-telling, saying that the Irish are either Catholic or Protestant, and not likely to waiver. As of 2006, Mormons didn't register a 10th of a percent, with less than 3,000 members in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Ireland. With a population of 6,197,100 (as of 20008), that handful won't get far.
posted by filthy light thief at 9:51 AM on July 19, 2010

Actually, 21st century Europe presents a pretty mixed bag of laws. Only Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway have gender neutral marriage laws. In many countries there is no recognition of same sex partnerships at all.

That's true, but a substantial number of countries other than those four have civil partnership laws that give all the same rights. Especially in countries with Civil marriage traditions and unitary (that is to say, no-federal) legal structures, the distinction between civil partnerships and marriages is less important than it is in the US.

According to wikipedia:
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, the UK, France, Luxembourg, Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland, Andorra, and Portugal in addition to the above mentioned four have same-sex civil partnerships in some form. "Gender neutral marriage law" is a very high standard that many of these countries do no pass, but Ireland now joins the majority of European countries.
posted by atrazine at 10:54 AM on July 19, 2010

I should have made it more clear in my comment above that the rights bestowed by a civil partnership vary from country to country.
posted by atrazine at 10:55 AM on July 19, 2010

"Not Everyone Is Happy About It" can go fuck a hat.

That would have to be a very small hat.

The video is parody btw, and cute if lacking in substance. I am just distressed that Ireland, of all bloody places, can now be counted as more progressive than the US on gay issues. How sad a spectacle we've made of ourselves on the civil rights front. Though I will save the "yay Ireland" for when they revoke the blasphemy law...
posted by Aversion Therapy at 1:15 PM on July 19, 2010

Only Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Norway have gender neutral marriage laws.

Actually, Portugal, Iceland, and Sweden have them as well. Incidentally, the Icelandic Prime Minister (who was the first openly gay head of government) and her partner got married pretty much straight after the law was passed.
posted by Bukvoed at 1:46 PM on July 19, 2010