Two of Britain’s biggest banks, Barclays and Coutts, have threatened to withdraw funding from an awards ceremony hosted by pro-gay organisation, Stonewall, unless they cease their “Bigot of the Year” award. The move comes after the group gave the title to Cardinal Keith O’Brien (pictured) this year, a decision condemned by the Catholic Church in...
The number of children being brought up by unmarried couples in Britain has doubled since the mid-1990s, and unmarried couple households are now more likely than married couple households to have children living in them, according to official figures. The figures also show that while the number of same-sex couples living together has increased eightfold,...
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has said urged the Catholic hierarchy to express their views on the forthcoming children’s rights referendum. Mr Varadkar is heading the Fine Gael campaign in favour of the children’s rights amendment. So far, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin is the only Catholic bishop to express an opinion about the referendum. He said he...
The divorce rate among the over 50s – so-called ‘gray divorce’ – has doubled in the US over the last 20 year according to a new study. The study, published in the current issue of the Journal of Gerontology, shows that ‘gray divorce’ now account for a quarter of all divorces. The study authors attribute...
Only 3.4pc of the US population are homosexual, rather than the 10pc that is often cited, according to a new poll. The survey, carried out by Gallup, based its findings on a huge sample of 120,000 participants. The survey asked: “”Do you, personally, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender?” Just over three percent of...
The Government has announced that the chief executive of the charity Concern Worldwide, Tom Arnold, has been appointed to chair its proposed Constitutional Convention. The Convention is set to look at a range of controversial issues, including proposals to amend the Constitution to allow for same-sex marriage. The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, also announced that he...
A council in the UK is examining proposals to scrap the titles Mr and Mrs from its official forms because they supposedly offend the “transgender” community. The plans come after a survey conducted by Brighton and Hove city council into the lives of “transgender” people. The council’s deputy leader, Phelim MacCafferty, backs the plans, but...
Ireland is the fifth best place in the world for women, according a new global survey. The finding comes after a report from OECD in May showed that Irish women had a better overall quality of life than men when a range of different factors were taken into account. The new survey, entitled the 2012...
The passage of the Government’s children’s rights referendum will not lead to “forced adoptions,” Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald (pictured) has said. Speaking at a Law Society seminar on the proposed amendment yesterday, she said that the adoption system contemplated by the amendment will be very different from the UK system, where children in care...
Catholic schools do better another schools on a number of measures of social inclusion according to a new study on diversity in Irish primary schools conducted by the ESRI. The study, “School Sector Variation among Primary Schools in Ireland”, released yesterday, was commissioned by Educate Together. The findings echo those of a Department of Education...
