This afternoon saw the Second Stage of the Civil Partnership Bill in the Dáil. After some Fianna Fáil backslapping where they vaulted themselves as champions of human rights and some sharpshooting by Labour’s Alan Shatter on the issue of childrens’ rights, the FF king of obscure pocket fluff, Martin Mansergh took the stage.

In a speech riddled with Biblical imagery of Sodom and Gomorrah, Mansergh went all fire and brimstone.

Mansergh opens with:

This is landmark legislation, which I welcome. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform is justified in claiming it as an example of civic republicanism at work.

Back to first principles on the union of a couple, before saying gay marriage is a matter for the people:

A view which has some backing from the wisdom of ages is the one that marriage as we understand it today is probably the best framework for procreating and rearing children. A same-sex marriage or partnership cannot procreate children. I am aware that children of heterosexual marriages may endure appalling circumstances and that children of same-sex partnerships may have a near-ideal upbringing but I am talking about the average situation.

It will ultimately be for the people to decide if the differences which exist are vital and overriding factors or whether the status of marriage should be conferred on same-sex couples. Under the 1938 Constitution such fundamental socio-moral issues have generally been reserved to the direct judgment of the people as a matter of direct democracy, as opposed to the representative democracy which deals with most other questions.

The most striking piece of the speech was Mansergh’s regaling the chamber of Old Testament and the ruined cities of Sodom and Gomorrah:

All of us on the other side of the fence will have received correspondence and e-mails opposing this legislation, in the vast majority of cases on religious grounds. There has been reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and I reread the verses this morning. The iniquity of the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah is not actually closely specified.

The word “sodomy” has a certain meaning but there is nothing in the Bible to specify the conduct or relationship to which it normally refers. We are living in the aftermath of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti and, notwithstanding the use of the phrase “acts of God” by insurance companies we are long past thinking of natural disasters as some form of divine retribution for wickedness or iniquity.

Some non-natural disasters can be linked to bad human behaviour but that is a separate issue.

He continues:

When the civil partnership legislation was published I happened to be in church the following Sunday and the verse of the lament of David for Jonathan was read out, which I would like to read into the record. The verse reads:

“I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been with me, thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen …”

If one studies the Bible closely, one will note that Jonathan was married. No specifics are given of the precise nature of the relationship between Jonathan and David but if one is to refer to the Old Testament, that passage is at least as striking as the passage on Sodom and Gomorrah. Therefore, one cannot draw any definitive conclusions. I am not aware nor have I seen quoted anywhere any statement by Christ on the subject of gay relationships.

Mansergh’s address really is puzzling. While praising the “forward-thinkingness” of the Bill, he quotes the Bible looking arcane clues with the zeal of a fundamentalist searching for divine truth.

In a republic, where every citizen is to be treated equally and the machine of our statehood is bent to protect those natural rights, why are legislators looking to books of control written many Centuries ago to justify the degrading of the rights of those that were not the establishment – including women and anyone else that threatened power. It is truly boggling, but not unexpected for Mansergh to fall head-first down this manhole.

You can read back the Civil Partnership Liveblog here. Thanks to Suzy for setting it up.

Photo: Jaqain (CC-ShareAlike)