Thousands of people marched in Dublin last Sunday to demand that
same-sex couples be given the right to wed -- with a warning that it has
become a major human rights issue.
Singer and gay rights advocate Brian Kennedy
told a crowd of around 5,000 people that there is a huge gulf in rights
between full marriage and the civil partnership legislation that came
into affect this year.
"I once naively believed that civil
partnership was equality; it took five minutes of education for me to
learn that it wasn't," Mr Kennedy said.
"I believe this is a human rights issue. There are 150 anomalies between civil partnership and civil marriage."
Many
of the anomalies he referred to include rights to guardianship of
children and property inheritance which do not apply in civil
partnership, campaigners say.
Inequality
According
to the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender (LBGT) support group
Noise, which organised the march, the Civil Partnership Act 2011
has only served to cement inequality in Irish society by explicitly
excluding LGBT people from the institution of marriage.
Protesters stood defiantly against the limitations of the existing law
and marched from City Hall to the Department of Justice at St Stephen's
Green.
The peaceful and energetic demonstration is now in its
third year, and organisers say its visibility is crucial to keep
marriage on the gay agenda and to stop discrimination.
"People are becoming more and more aware," said Max Krzyzanowski of Noise.
"We
are getting the word out ever wider and as soon as people become aware
(of the facts) their jaws drop at the sheer absurdity of the legal
situation."
The event was well attended and featured a number of
well known faces including Senator Katherine Zappone and her partner
Ann Louise Gilligan, and singer Brian McFadden with girlfriend Vogue Williams.
"It's really to open the dialogue about talking about rights for gay marriage
and addressing the inequality in the legislation that we have at the
moment," said Chris Rowan (23) who marched alongside partner Neil
O'Brien (26).
"It's not about people agreeing with gay marriage;
that is their choice. It's more about whether people disagree with
discrimination."