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from Parenting & Family
Ireland Court Rules Against
Canadian Gay Marriage
By William C. Duncan,
NARTH Legal Advisory Committee Chair
On December 14, 2006, the High Court of Ireland issued a decision concluding that Ireland is not required to recognize a Canadian same-sex marriage entered into by Irish citizens. My summary is below along with a link to the court's decision.
ZAPPONE V. REVENUE COMMISSIONERS
Ireland High Court
December 14, 2006
http://www.kalcase.org/KAL%20Zappone_v_Rev_Commrs_Judgement.doc
An Irish same-sex couple married in Canada but were denied the married couple tax allowance in Ireland. They sued the Revenue Commissioners attempting to establish that Canadian same-sex marriages would be recognized in Ireland. After a long discussion of the testimony, evidence and competing arguments, the High Court judge ruled in favor of the Commissioners.
The court noted that it was "being asked to redefine marriage to mean something it has never done to date." The court rejected the couple's claim of "changing consensus" about the meaning of marriage, saying "[t]he consensus around the world does not support a widespread move towards same-sex marriage." This conclusion, to the court, was bolstered by the reaffirmation of the male-female definition of marriage in the 2004 Civil Registration Act.
The court held the distinction between same and opposite-sex couples was justified by the Irish Constitution's clear right of opposite-sex marriage. The marriage law was further justified by concerns with the "welfare of children" since in the absence of good research, "the State is entitled to adopt a cautious approach to changing the capacity to marry."
Because the European Convention on Human Rights does not create a duty for states to create a legal status for those unable to marry and marriage's link to procreation makes it inapposite for same-sex couples, the ECHR does not require Ireland to recognize the Canadian same-sex marriage.
In its review of the evidence on parenting by same-sex couples, the court said: "It also seems to me having regard to the criticism of the methodology used in the majority of the studies involving much larger samples that it will be difficult to reach firm conclusions on this topic."
Updated: 3 September 2008
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