Pro-family campaigners are accusing Amnesty International of betraying its own deepest principles after the group insisted that registrars who, for reasons of conscience, are unwilling to participate in a gay civil union, should face prosecution. ''We see no reason why refusing to register a civil partnership or refusing to give a civil partnership registration form to parties to an intended partnership should be any less an offence than in the case of marriage registration.
''In the specific context of same-sex partnerships a registrar must comply with the law relating to his/her functions.
''While freedom of religion must always be weighed in the balance, it cannot be allowed to override the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in civil unions,'' a spokesman for Amnesty Ireland told The Irish Catholic.
However, a spokesman for the religious freedom think-tank The Iona Institute said: ''Amnesty is betraying its own deepest principles with this position.
''Conscientious objectors will frequently find themselves in trouble with the law. This is where the whole notion of a 'prisoner of conscience' comes from. But in this case, Amnesty Ireland blandly says a civil registrar must obey the law. But suppose the registrar has a conscientious objection to facilitating the recognition of same-sex civil unions? Unfortunately this cuts no ice with Amnesty whatsoever."
Traditional morality
''Amnesty must realise that it is now siding against those who believe in traditional sexual morality,'' he said.
It comes after Amnesty's Executive Director Colm O'Gorman accused Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern of creating ''a second-class form of marriage for what the Government clearly feels is a second-class group of people''.
Delivering the annual Amnesty International Pride Lecture in Belfast last week, he said the Government was ''enshrining discrimination in Irish law'' at a time when other countries were moving forward and ending inequalities.
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