Wedding photographers, and other professionals associated with the wedding industry could be sued if they had a conscientious objection to civil unions of same-sex couples, Fianna Fail TDs and senators were told last week.A meeting of the parliamentary party heard that the introduction of such unions could have "severe and far-reaching consequences" for Churches, non-Christian religions and for individual religious believers unless they were granted certain specific protections in law.
The director of the Iona Institute, David Quinn, warned that unless these protections were granted, individuals who are part and parcel of the wedding day of heterosexual couples who had a "conscientious objection" to civil unions for same-sex couples, could face legal action.
"Wedding photographers could be sued, printers of wedding invitations could be sued, Church halls could be sued," Mr Quinn said.
The Iona Institute is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the strengthening of civil society through making the case for marriage and religious practice.
The institute was one of several interested groups and individuals invited by the Oireachtas Justice Committee to address a meeting of the Fianna Fail parliamentary party which was attended by up to 20 TDs last week.
Mr Quinn said that discrimination on the basis of 'civil status' would be outlawed by Civil Partnership Bill. He said those who believed in traditional marriage could, therefore, find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
"A conscientiously objecting civil registrar could be fined and/or face up to six months in prison. Successful law suits have been taken against believers in traditional marriage in other jurisdictions.
"The State must decide whether it wants to leave supporters of traditional marriage vulnerable to similar law suits in Ireland or to offer them legal protection," he said.
In the US and elsewhere, he said, photographers had been fined and church halls had lost their charitable status for asserting their right to abide by their religious beliefs with regard to marriage.
"The Civil Partnership Bill will amend existing equality legislation. The Employment Equality Act and the Equal Status Act will be amended so that the words 'marital status' are replaced with 'civil status' in recognition of the creation of the new category of civil partnership.
"'Discrimination' on the basis of civil status will then be outlawed. This means that any organisation or individual who 'discriminates' in the provision of employment rights, such as pensions, or who 'discriminates' in the provision of goods and services against individuals in a civil partnership are very likely to find themselves on the wrong side of the law."
"Our penalty is much more severe than the equivalent in Britain. In Britain a civil registrar can be internally disciplined for conscientiously objecting but cannot be found guilty of an offence.
"However, the right of an employer to internally discipline a civil registrar in the UK for conscientiously objecting is currently under review. Therefore Britain may soon be giving even more latitude to civil registrars than our own Civil Partnership Bill is currently proposing," he said.
Mr Quinn said: "Supporters of traditional marriage should not be placed on the wrong side of the law."
He said the choice facing policy-makers was: To treat belief in traditional marriage as a form of prejudice, or to protect that belief as legitimate?
"Policy-makers will have to decide whether they feel that those who believe in traditional marriage are guilty of a form of prejudice and should be dealt with accordingly under certain circumstances, or whether they believe that freedom of conscience and religion should be protected."
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