Behind Enemy Lines- Meeting Bigot of the Month

by Christina Murphy

When I first logged onto LGBT Noise’s website, little over a month ago, I was immediately drawn to an article which featured fellow Wexfordian, Senator Jim Walsh, entitled Bigot on of the Month. Sparked, by his outright, unapologetic discriminatory comments about the rights of same-sex couples and his views on the upcoming Civil Partnership Bill, I sent him a strongly worded email expressing my views as a member and ally of the LGBT community. What I didn’t expect was a chance to meet personally with the Senator after he extended an invitation to discuss my views on the Civil Partnership Bill directly with him.

The meeting highlighted the Senator’s numerous misconceptions about the LGBT community, backward opinions about equality and about those who are still struggling in its pursuit. “Well there are different reasons why people are gay,” he continued, “I have spoken to psychologists about this.” It must be stressed that homosexuality is a natural trait that a person is born with, not a mental illness that needs to be studied by psychologists. When I asked whether the psychologists to which he referred happen to be gay or lesbian, he quickly moved on to the next topic. These remarks by the Senator were the first indicators I had that this meeting would be about more than the Civil Marriage debate and that this was a chance for the Senator to put me in my place.

The Senator spoke strongly about his conviction in protecting the traditional family structure due to children, which - as he has indicated numerous times - has been the main factor in his decision to oppose equal rights for gay and lesbian couples. He believes that same-sex couples are of a lesser “merit” than heterosexual couples because of the position of children in these relationships. By this logic, therefore, are heterosexual couples that chose not to have children also of a lesser “merit” Senator? What seems most interesting to me is that for someone who places such a high emphasis on the interests of children, he seems to neglect the fact that the Civil Partnership Bill will offer no protection or rights to the children of same-sex couples. In fact, this Bill denies their very existence. Does Senator Walsh encourage the discrimination against same-sex couples being carried on to the next generation? This cycle of discrimination is hardly in the interest of our children?

The Senator also focused on the breakdown of the family contributing to problems which young people – most specifically depression. He claimed that women working outside the home are a main factor in this. As a nineteen-year-old young woman I felt greatly offended by this remark, as I’m sure most women would be. Senator Walsh would appear to argue that a mother – like mine – having a career outside the home is too great a sacrifice to put on the cohesion of the family unit: I strongly disagree. This is 2009 and yet the Senator seems to disregard the Women’s Rights Movement. There are many ways for a mother and indeed a father to show love and support for their family. As my mother was the main breadwinner in my home, were it not for her, I quite simply would not have the same access to education and opportunities that I experience on a daily basis. Although my mother spends some of her time caring for us outside the home, our family have experienced no less love and support than a family who has a mother supporting from within it. It is my mother’s right to choose how she lives her life and supports her family.

And then to the question of LGBT equality. I asked the Senator if he believes in it. If by equality you mean that all people are born the same and deserve to be treated thus, then the answer unsurprisingly is no. He believes that because people are born with different traits and different abilities, such as being better at maths or talented musically (the Senator’s examples, not my own), that equality as an ideology is unfounded. From the meeting I gathered that he believes that equality is overrated. He completely belittled the pursuit of equal marriage rights by suggesting that it is simply the pursuit of having what you can’t have – a consumerism of rights if you like. He said that the gay community should realise that they simply do not need civil marriage and their desire for it is not based on looking for tangible rights, rather it is based on looking to “what other people have”: like an iPhone maybe Senator? To have my pursuit for civil rights belittled into something petty and pedantic infuriated me more than any of the comments the Senator had made before. He seems to believe that a consumerism of rights is what the civil marriage battle has been about, not the battle for equality. But then he doesn’t believe in that, does he?

The Senator broke for the last time from the topic when he asked me to explain how members of the LGBT community can be expected to be taken seriously when “men walk around half naked during demonstrations”. “You see the thing is,” said the Senator, laughing to himself, “If I were to call people fairies I would be called a bigot and all sorts of things, but David Norris says it all the time and nothing is said.” Yes I know the answers are quite obvious. Reason one: David Norris is a member of the LGBT community, who has done more to progress LGBT rights than anyone else in the country. Reason Two: Jim Walsh is not a member of the LGBT community and is doing his best to regress our pursuit of full equality.

I know that the events of this meeting will perhaps spark outrage, shock and hurt. But perhaps this is what is needed? What is more shocking, outrageous and hurtful is that this man has real power to influence the Civil Partnership Bill and further legislation concerning the rights of minority groups. So bigoted views like Senator Walsh’s cannot be ignored by us any longer.

In the words of Harvey Milk “I know you cannot live on hope alone but without it live is not worth living.” Following the meeting, I had a chance encounter with the great man who was behind the decriminalisation of homosexuality, Senator David Norris. Speaking with the Senator, he told me that he believed that Walsh’s opinions were influenced by his pursuit of support in his constituency of New Ross. This made me realise that the Senator Jim Walsh is merely a figurehead for the people. What we really need to change is our opinions as a society. Can we honestly say to our acquaintances, neighbours, friends, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, parents, sons and daughters that they are not equal simply because of their sexual orientation? Something tells me that the LGBT community will not accept such blatant bigotry any longer and will not settle for anything less than full equality. We, as a society, should stand and fight together in this ongoing pursuit of equality.

We must assert our equality to achieve our equality.

An award in recognition of all of those who, in defiance of reason, compassion and basic human decency, have made an extra special effort to make the world a less welcoming place for LGBT people.

It is a dubious pleasure to announce the inaugural recipient of this ignoble award: we give you - drum-roll please - Senator Jim Walsh! (feel free to give him a tiny round of applause, wherever you are)

So who is this fine legislator?

Why has NOISE chosen to honour him?

The first is a very good question - we’d never heard of him either until he decided to go public with his dislike of the awful gays and our unreasonable demands for equality. It turns out that Senator Walsh is a Fianna Fáil member of Seanad Éireann, having been elected in Wexford by the Agricultural Panel. He was first elected to the Seanad in 1997 and lives in New Ross, County Wexford.

As to the second, Senator Walsh jumped to the top of the queue for our first ‘Bigot of the Month’ by making himself the public face of opposition within Fianna Fáil to legal recognition - never mind civil marriage - for same-sex couples.

On 26^th June 2008, just days after the general scheme of the Civil Partnership Bill was published, Senator Walsh put a motion before the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party demanding that nothing should be done in the upcoming Civil Partnership Bill that would in any way lessen the “special status” enjoyed by heterosexual marriage under the Constitution. We shouldn’t be redefining marriage, says the good Senator, because it’s “intrinsically heterosexual” and necessary for “the propagation of society”.

On the following day, the Irish Times reported that “between a dozen and 30 members of the parliamentary party had signed Senator Walsh’s motion”. However, this brave band of public representatives has thus far remained anonymous and it is impossible to say accurately how many supporters Senator Walsh has. NOISE thinks they make good company for Senator Walsh -  sneaky cowards who seem to think nothing of using clandestine, underhanded tactics to attack the rights of LGBT folk, but don’t have the courage to stand up and declare their bigotry in public.

In views reminiscent of a darker period in Ireland’s history, a senator who refused to go on the record was reported in the Irish Times as saying, “I don’t see any great need to legislate in this area. I have my own views on it. Let people do what they want, but I don’t see the need to be putting things into the statute book” -  in other words, the anonymous Senator X believes that the state should ignore LGBT people, sweep their needs under the carpet, and hope they go away.

Indeed, Senator Walsh seems very good at keeping bad company: he has close links with the Iona Institute, a right-wing religious lobby group dressed up as a ‘research’ institution “dedicated to the strengthening of civil society through making the case for marriage” (unless you’re LGBT, naturally). Senator Walsh chaired a mini-seminar organised by the Institute on June 3^rd 2008.

It’s also of note that the Senator was a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality & Women’s Rights. Obviously the Senator’s version of ‘justice’ and ‘equality’ do not apply to LGBT people or their families.

You can send your congratulations to jim.walsh@oireachtas.ie

Here’s a link to that Irish Times report:

Here’s a flavour of what our hero gets up to in Seanad Éireann:

28th May 2009:

“The equality agenda, while good, has been hijacked* by sectoral interests.”

[*HIJACK: 'To seize control of something by use of force']

Indeed? Equality can never be ‘hijacked’, when it is the most basic human right to which everyone is entitled. Shockingly, amazingly, minority groups are no longer prepared to beg for crumbs from the master’s table. They’re actively and aggressively pursuing equality for themselves, their families and their wider communities. Isn’t it just terrible?

13^th May 2009:

“In my opinion and that of many specialists in the field, the best interest of the child is served by having the influence of a mother and father in its upbringing. Any deviation from that would take away from the focus of the child…Where possible and unless natural justice intervenes, we should ensure every child in the State has the benefit of having a mother and a father because the latter is in their absolute interest in the context of their development and upbringing. There are many studies which underline and prove that point of view.” (discussing the Adoption Bill 2009)

Clearly, Senator Walsh’s ’studies’ must have been missed by the most authoritative and professional bodies in the world concerned with child care, such as the American Academy of Paediatrics (AAP). The AAP have reviewed and published, in the world’s number-one peer-reviewed journal of paediatric medicine, over 25 years of studies in the area and found a striking but unsurprising result: the children of same-sex parents fair just as well as the children of opposite sex parents. The reality is that Senator Walsh is talking nonsense. For more details, see the ‘LGBT families’ section.

13^th May 2009

“…Civil partnership… is a concept I do not oppose, although I am against it mirroring all the rights and entitlements of heterosexual marriage. That is distinct and different and should be treated accordingly. Other minority interests in society should have their rights recognised in a way appropriate to their circumstances rather than on the basis of replicating the rights of other such bodies.”  (discussing the Adoption Bill 2009)

We wonder if Senator Walsh has heard of the USA’s segragation regime. ‘Separate but equal’ was found to be incompatible with equality in another time and place, yet the good Senator wants a principle of ’separate and unequal’ to apply to Ireland’s LGBT people.

We’d really like to know what “in a way appropriate to their circumstances” means, wouldn’t you?

02^nd July 2008

“I will finish by making the point that in doing this, there is no need to, and it must not happen that we need to, redefine marriage from its intrinsically heterosexual nature, which is for the propagation of society and the welfare of children, into one which is purely for an adult sexual relationship. That is essential and important.”

If marriage is purely for the propagation of society, we presume Senator Walsh also believes in forcing married couples to either procreate or divorce. Ironically though, it seems he’s not too fond of adult sexual relationships.

02^nd July 2008

“…The republican ethos that is engendered in this House and particularly in my party would ensure marginalised* people in society need have no fears that their issues will be addressed.”

[*MARGINALISE: 'to relegate or confine to a lower social standing or outer limit or edge, as of social standing']

As you can see, consistency isn’t Senator Walsh’s strong point.

That’s it for this month, folks. Please extend a big NOISE welcome to Senator Jim Walsh - our first Bigot of the Month!

The Bigots at the Iona Institute are quick off the mark with their lies - here is their press release regarding the Civil Partnership Bill.

They trot out the usual lies about children, families and gay couples, and attack every loving gay mum and dad in the process.
Take a look aswell at how they try to shoehorn religious ‘freedom’ into debate on a civil matter. NOISE especially likes how they’ve linked themselves to the ugly lies of the National Organisation for Marriage ad campaign ‘Gathering Storm’ that was spoofed from one end of YouTube to the other recently.

The Iona Institute: bigoted, dishonest, and not too bright!

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Press release by The Iona Institute, June 26, 2009

Civil Partnerships Bill ‘a deeply flawed approach to family policy’
Rights should be as per ‘legal safety-net’ model
Not discrimination to treat different situations in different ways
Civil Partnerships Bill should protect religious freedom

THE new Civil Partnerships Bill published by the Government today reveals a deeply flawed and poorly thought-out approach to family policy which undermines the special status of marriage, according to The Iona Institute.

Speaking on behalf of the organisation, Dr John Murray said: “The main purpose of family policy is the promotion of the family that is most beneficial from the point of view of the child, and that remains the family based on the marriage between a man and a woman. Family policy is not primarily about the promotion of equality between adults as the Government now seems to believe.”

He said: “The special status of marriage is undermined by effectively raising other forms of the family to a similar level to marriage. The Government is clearly moving from a pro-marriage policy to a pro-family diversity model based on an erroneous view of equality.”

He continued: “The scientific evidence supports the view that children fare best when raised by a loving mother and father who are married. Studies that contradict this point of view are invariably very small and are frequently based on self-selected rather than random samples.”

Dr Murray emphasised: “It is not discrimination to treat different situations in different ways. It makes sense to confer on marriage an enhanced set of rights and benefits because marriage is so advantageous to children. It makes no sense to confer most of these benefits on situations that are significantly different than the marriage between a man and a woman.”

The Iona Institute has previously recommended that same-sex couples be covered by the ‘legal safety-net’ model along the lines the Civil Partnership Bill is providing to others in caring, dependent relationships. This includes the right to apply for maintenance and a property settlement.

Dr Murray also said it was important that religious freedom be given proper protection. He stated: “It is essential that religious freedom considerations are taken into account. In other jurisdictions churches have been successfully sued for not letting their premises be used by same-sex couples celebrating their unions. Christian photographers have been fined for not photographing such ceremonies. Other such examples exist.”

ENDS

Contact details:

Dr John Murray: 086 0783438 Dr Murray is also a lecturer at Mater Dei Institute

David Quinn, Director of The Iona Institute: 087 982 9910

Phone: 01 6619 204           Email: info@ionainstitute.ie Website: www.ionainstitute.ie

On 30/01/08, it came to NOISE’s attention that an unadvertised lecture hosted by the Iona Institute (www.ionainstitute.ie) was to occur in the Mont Clare Hotel beside Merrion Square. The lecture was entitled: ‘How gay marriage changes straight marriage and revolutionises parenthood’ and was presented by Elizabeth Marquardt. Elizabeth Marquardt is Vice President for Family Studies at the Institute for American Values (www.americanvalues.org), a conservative right-wing religious group in the USA.

The talk was attended by various members of the Iona Institute such as their Director David Quinn who is also a regular contributor to the Irish Independent and a patron of the Institute, Professor Patricia Casey who is a senior consultant psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital in Dublin, as well as a lecturer at University College, Dublin. She also gave evidence on behalf of the Irish State at the High Court case of Drs Zappone and Gilligan who are seeking to have their Canadian same-sex marriage recognised in Ireland.

A group of approximately 30 people arrived with only a few hours notice and protested outside the lecture by holding pink hearts, the NOISE banner and handing out leaflets to individuals entering the lecture detailing how the views of Elizabeth Marquardt were inconsistent with the views of various professional child-welfare bodies worldwide. The protest was subsequently reported in the Irish Times by another patron of the Iona Institute and regular contributor to the paper, Breda O’Brien.