News

Just launched: MarriagEquality

This week a new platform is launched about Civil Marriage for Gay and Lesbian People in Ireland: MarriagEquality.
Marriage equality is about giving equal rights to marriage for lesbian and gay couples on the basis that lesbian and gay people and heterosexual people are equal in the law.

MarriagEquality grew out of an initiative introduced to support the case of Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland. MarriagEquality argues that lesbians and gay men should have the right to marry, in a civil registry office, and gain the same legal rights associated with marriage for themselves and their families.

Dr. Katherine Zappone and Dr. Ann Louise Gilligan are both women and Irish citizens. They live in Ireland . Dr. Zappone is a public policy research consultant and member of the Human Rights Commission. Dr. Gilligan is an academic and works as a lecturer at St. Patrick’s College, Dublin. They have lived together as a de facto couple for 25 years, and are both salaried income earners and joint owners of a family home and one other property in Ireland.

In April, 2001 Katherine and Ann Louise decided to seek legal recognition of their life partnership. As at present, no such legal recognition existed in the country and there was little public debate about partnership rights for same-sex couples. With extensive research and legal advice they were considering taking a constitutional challenge against the Irish State.