Civil
Partnerships should not be used as a stepping stone to same-sex marriage, The
Iona Institute has said. It was reacting to the first public Civil Partnerships
that took yesterday.

Speaking on
behalf of The Iona Institute, Dr John Murray said: We hope Civil Partnerships will not
become a stepping stone to same-sex marriage.  Permitting same-sex
marriage would destroy the most essential message marriage as a social
institution conveys to society, namely that children ideally should be raised
by their own mother and a father in a loving union.”

He said:
“Civil Partnerships already resemble marriage very closely so they are already
reshaping the public understanding of marriage. But marriage is not just a
romantic relationship. If that alone was what marriage is about, then there
would be no reason to give it more status and support than any other form of
committed relationship.”

Dr Murray
continued:  “However, marriage also has a vital and indispensible public
purpose, which is to encourage men and women to commit to one and then raise
together any children they may have.”

He concluded:
“This purpose of marriage is increasingly being lost from view. If marriage is
seen as something that is mostly about adult sexual love, then there will no
longer exist a social institution that has as its main purpose the welfare of
children. This would be very detrimental to society”.

The Iona
Institute favours partnership rights for anyone in a caring, dependant
relationship whether that relationship is sexual in nature or not.

These rights
include hospital visitation rights, property rights and maintenance rights.

The new
Government has promised to consider changing the present constitutional
definition of marriage. However, it has not yet committed to holding a
referendum on the issue.