DUBLIN FOOTBALLER GER Brennan has spoken out about his plans to vote No in the upcoming same-sex marriage referendum.
The GAA star wrote an opinion piece in today’s Irish Independent titled, “Why I’m voting No”.
He said he wrote it because in “the last 3 or 4 weeks as the referendum date is nearing and the debates are picking up, I would have been asked by a lot of my peers what my thinking was on it.”
Speaking on the Anton Savage show on Today FM, he said, “When one hears the term ‘equality’ your human instinct is going to jump and say ‘yes’ because we all want everyone to be equal.
But, what the Government has done really well is kind of hijacked human beings emotions and played on that without highlighting deeper consequences from a legal point of view.
“Coupled with the antagonizing view from the ‘Yes’ campaign that if you are even slightly ‘No’ or even thinking about it, that you are a homophobic and that you are anti-gay, which for me is not the case.”
Family
Brennan says he doesn’t have an issue with gay marriage but that he’s concerned about children brought up in a family where their biological parents are not present.
“The term marriage does not scare me at all. It’s more so the legal implications for a child going forward based on the current proposal. But if there was an amendment included into the current referendum suggestion, well then I would be very happy to vote yes.
Is the love of a homosexual couple equal to the love of a heterosexual couple? Absolutely it is. But there are biological differences and disadvantages because of our genetic makeup.
“I just feel that gender balance is extremely important when it comes, certainly to the raising of a child, and where possible to have the biological parents involved.
Asked if he thinks he’ll be “vilified” for writing the piece, Brennan replied: “If I am, I am. I have a thick skin.”
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