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Tag: Same-sex marriage

  • Ireland Votes Overwhelmingly To Approve Same-Sex Marriage

    Ireland Votes Overwhelmingly To Approve Same-Sex Marriage

    Ireland has become the first-ever country to approve same-sex marriage by referendum, voting overwhelmingly to approve it despite opposition from clergy in the heavily Catholic nation, according to official results announced today.

    Reuters says in Friday’s vote “more than 60 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot, the highest turnout at a referendum there in over two decades.”

    Earlier, both sides in the debate acknowledged that the “yes” vote had succeeded.

    Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s health minister who came out as gay in January just as the campaign was getting underway, said Dublin appeared to have voted 70 percent in favor of the measure.

    “We’re the first country in the world to enshrine marriage equality in our constitution and do so by popular mandate,” Varadkar said. “That makes us a beacon, a light to the rest of the world of liberty and equality. It’s a very proud day to be Irish.”

    NPR’s Ari Shapiro, speaking with Weekend Edition Saturday host Scott Simon, says that although Ireland is a predominately Catholic country and many clergy urged a no vote, “the Church has had a lot of scandals” in recent years. Without a doubt, he says, the Church is “one of the losers in this vote.”

    The head of the Iona Institute, which ran the No campaign in Ireland’s vote to legalize same-sex marriage, has tweeted his congratulations to the yes campaign.

    Here’s the tweet from Iona Director David Quinn:

    Ari says that conservative areas that voted against legalizing divorce in the 1990s have come in with a Yes vote for same-sex marriage.

     

    Source: www.npr.org

  • Counsellor: Distinguish Between Helping Gays And Supporting An Agenda

    Counsellor: Distinguish Between Helping Gays And Supporting An Agenda

    Some people, including some university student groups, have assumed that the solution to help youth with same-sex attraction is to push for the cause of affirming their alternative sexual identity at all costs.

    These groups include The G Spot (Yale-National University of Singapore College), tFreedom (Tembusu College, NUS), Gender Collective (University Scholars Programme, NUS), Kaleidoscope (an independent Nanyang Technological University group) and Out To Care (Singapore Management University).

    Yale-NUS College also organised an Ally Week in March to support the ideology that alternative sexual identities must be affirmed.

    As a counsellor with more than a decade of experience helping youth with same-sex attraction, I urge caution against such an assumption.

    Even in countries where same-sex marriage laws have been passed – for example, in Denmark – the quality of life of homosexual individuals has not improved.

    Rather, married homosexuals have been found to die at an age about 20 years younger than their heterosexual counterparts.

    This statistically significant difference cannot be ignored by anyone who truly cares for homosexuals.

    It makes all sense to ask: Why do homosexuals affirmed in their alternative sexual identities, and even those who are married, not enjoy the same quality of life as their heterosexual counterparts?

    This should eventually lead us back to question the starting assumption: Does helping an individual with same-sex attraction equate to pushing for the same-sex marriage agenda or affirming his alternative sexual identity at all costs?

    Many of my friends with same-sex attraction live healthier, more fulfilling lives today not because they have been affirmed of an alternative sexual identity, but because of loving support rendered that enabled them to work on their social-emotional difficulties and to accept themselves.

    Their specific sexual dispositions should play little role in their identity.

    They are not pushing the same-sex marriage agenda.

    This is especially important for society to understand, so that we do not confuse the goal of loving homosexuals with an agenda to change the moral laws of society.

    We should love homosexuals and ensure they are not bullied or discriminated against.

    But to link this to a need to push the same-sex marriage agenda would be a wrong conclusion.

    It is, hence, of grave concern to see the developments in our student campuses.

    Expertise in navigating through this sensitive issue holistically and factually is sorely missing.

    Leo Hee Khian

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com

  • Vietnam Abolishes Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

    Vietnam Abolishes Ban On Same-Sex Marriage

    HANOI — With Vietnam taking the lead in gay rights in South-east Asia by abolishing a ban on same-sex marriages, medical doctor Thuan Nguyen is planning a wedding ceremony with his boyfriend of two years.

    “I am ready to have a wedding,” he said. “Many, many young people in love are optimistic about the acceptance of gay weddings.”

    The revised law, while not officially recognising same-sex marriage, places the communist country at the forefront of acceptance of gay people among countries in Asia.

    The National Assembly’s move is expected to attract more lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travellers and boost Vietnam’s US$9 billion (S$12 billion) tourism industry.

    The new marriage law, which took effect on New Year’s Day, abolished regulations that prohibit marriage between people of the same sex. Same-sex marriages can now take place, though the government does not recognise them or provide legal protection in cases of disputes. It abolished fines that were imposed on homosexual weddings in 2013.

    No other South-east Asian country has taken as big a step towards accepting same-sex marriage, said Mr Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com