Richard Waghorne (pictured), writing in today’s Irish Daily Mail, explains that, although he is himself gay, he doesn’t believe that same-sex marriage is a good idea.

His reason for this is simple: Marriage receives special status because the protection it gives to children, not because of the status it gives to adults:

“The support and status that marriage entails is not a societal bonus for falling in love and agreeing to make a relationship lasting. That is not, of course, to say that love and romance are not an important part of marriage. But they are not the reason it has special status. If romance were the reason for supporting marriage, there would be no grounds for differentiating which relationships should be included and which should not. But that is not and never has been the nature of marriage.

“Marriage is vital as a framework within which children can be brought up by a man and woman. Not all marriages, of course, involve child-raising. And there are also, for that matter, same-sex couples already raising children. But the reality is that marriages tend towards child-raising and same-sex partnerships do not. “

His contribution to the debate is important, because all too often discussion of the issue dissolves into accusations of homophobia against opponents of homophobia. It is rather difficult to accuse Richard of homophobia, so that line of attack is ruled out. Maybe now it will possible to debate the actual subject, which is whether marriage should be redefined to make it an adult-centred, rather than a child-centred, social institution.