Madam, - Denise Charlton and Paula Fagan write that they are raising a child together and therefore they should be allowed to marry (Opinion & Analysis, February 25th). They say that if they were allowed marry, their child would enjoy additional protections before the law and would not be treated as a second-class citizen compared with the children of heterosexual married couples.
There are two problems with this argument. The first is that it is implicitly a call for all combinations of adults who raise children to also be given all of the same rights as married couples. There are and always have been many combinations of adults raising children in Ireland, whether a mother, daughter and grandchild, two sisters, two friends, etc.
If children being raised by same-sex couples should be given the protections of marriage, then why not the children being raised in other non-marital family units? However, if the Government were ever to go down this route, it would be declaring complete neutrality between family forms despite the overwhelming evidence that children tend to do best when raised by a married mother and father.
This brings us to the second problem with the argument advanced by Denise Charlton and Paula Fagan: they completely ignore the issue of whether or not a child has a right to be raised by a mother and father. Every child in the world, including those raised by same-sex couples, has a mother and father.
Surely denying a child a right to a mother and a father itself reduces that child to second-class citizenship? Or do they believe a child has no need of a father in his or her life? If so, they need to produce plenty of evidence to back up such a claim, especially given the evidence that fathers contribute a great deal to a child's development.
There is a real danger that this debate is going to be led by emotion. It must instead be led by reason and a calm consideration of the facts.
- Yours, etc,
PATRICIA CASEY, Professor of Psychiatry, Mater Hospital, Dubin 7.