A few interesting developments in the ongoing debate about the uses and misuses of the word ‘homophobia’:

First, Paddy Manning and our director David Quinn were on Prime Time opposite Senator Ivana Bacik and Brian Finnegan. Link here. For what it’s worth, both Bacik and Finnegan agreed that opposition to gay marriage was not automatically homophobic.

Then, on today’s Sean O’Rourke programme, Senator Ronan Mullen, who disagrees with gay marriage, and Independent columnist Martina Devlin, who supports it, concurred that Rory O’Neill’s words on the Saturday Night Show were defamatory. O’Rourke also read out three dictionary definitions of ‘homophobia’ and they all referred to fear or hatred.

Finally, there’s an extremely thought-provoking article in today’s Irish Times by Chris Connolly, a gay man in a civil partnership, about motives, arguments, and the real meaning of homophobia. He does not believe people who believe in ‘traditional’ marriage can be simply dismissed as homophobes. Very much worth a read.