Robert Bandanza
October 3rd, 2006, 09:09 AM
Landmark case by lesbian couple under way
03 October 2006 14:55
A landmark case taken by a lesbian couple to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland has begun at the High Court.
Lawyers for Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan say their case raises a fundamental question about the nature of marriage itself.
Dr Zappone, a public policy research consultant, and Dr Gilligan, an academic, met in Boston, Massachusetts and have been living together since 1981. They married in Canada in 2003. Now they want the State to recognise that marriage.
They took legal proceedings after the Revenue Commissioners refused to recognise them as a couple for tax purposes.
Their lawyer argued the case was not just about maximising tax benefits but about the nature of marriage itself.
Senior Counsel Michael Collins said Drs Zappone and Gilligan were not arguing for any extra or special rights. They were arguing for the same right everyone else has - the right to marry a person of your choice who you love, the court was told.
He said the State was discriminating against the couple on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. And he said there were no public policy grounds sufficient to warrant the withholding of the right to marry from them. The case is expected to last around three weeks.
RTE News (http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1003/gay.html)
03 October 2006 14:55
A landmark case taken by a lesbian couple to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland has begun at the High Court.
Lawyers for Dr Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan say their case raises a fundamental question about the nature of marriage itself.
Dr Zappone, a public policy research consultant, and Dr Gilligan, an academic, met in Boston, Massachusetts and have been living together since 1981. They married in Canada in 2003. Now they want the State to recognise that marriage.
They took legal proceedings after the Revenue Commissioners refused to recognise them as a couple for tax purposes.
Their lawyer argued the case was not just about maximising tax benefits but about the nature of marriage itself.
Senior Counsel Michael Collins said Drs Zappone and Gilligan were not arguing for any extra or special rights. They were arguing for the same right everyone else has - the right to marry a person of your choice who you love, the court was told.
He said the State was discriminating against the couple on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. And he said there were no public policy grounds sufficient to warrant the withholding of the right to marry from them. The case is expected to last around three weeks.
RTE News (http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1003/gay.html)